Rebel Yell
by CjtheShort
Summary: A.J 'Rebel' Raiders could be seen as one of the greatest military personnel of her time, but every accomplishment comes with a price. When her largest mile stone had a price far too high, she ran away from the only family she knew. After five years, they reclaimed her and she is determined not to let them down again. SE/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**Okay, I would first like to add that I haven't actually seen Rise of Cobra all the way through…..don't hate me, hate to scratched disk my brother gave me. Second, I think there is a real G.I Joe named 'Tripwire', if so…deal with it. Sorry.**_

_**I don't own G.I Joe or G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra**_

Everyone was gathered in Hawk's office as he silently flipped through pages of a file. The group had tried to hide it, but they were getting impatient after the silent near thirty minutes. They had been called in here for a mission briefing, not to watch their general read!

"Hmmmmmm." Hawk mummed with interest as he examined yet another page before finally closing the file and sliding it to the others. Duke picked it up as the others looked over his shoulder at it. He skimmed through it before something caught his eye; K. , M. , and 'Active's were crossed out with another stamp over lapping that one to yet again be crossed out before finally lading on one final 'M.I.A' after a line of the mess.

"What's with the whole she's dead, she's not, dead she's gone, she's not gone?" Ripcord asked everybody's question. Hawk smirked as his head bobbed with a slight laugh.

"Alisha Jasminer Raiders A.K.A 'Tripwire' is known for taking serious blows and living, as well as being taken hostage a few times and turning the tables." Hawk answered leaning back in his chair. The team read every word the file said this time. Air Force pilot, bomb and demolition expert, martial arts, boxing champion, well qualified mechanic, spy, weapons expert, seductress and her record said she was pretty rough in bar fights and handy if you wanted to steal a car.

"If you don't mind me asking, but where do you find these people?" Duke asked, handing the file to Scarlett to hold.

"Somebody Beach Head recommended. At first I wasn't impressed until I looked her up. I've tried to make contact only to find that she slipped under the radar of anyone looking for her. One of those cases where 'Uncle Sam taught them a little too well'. On the back are likely places to find her." General Hawk informed as Scarlett flipped to the back and scanned down the list.

"All in Alabama, all close to each other. Shouldn't be hard, right?" She said passing it to Ripcord and Breaker for a better look. "Hey, no I.D picture. How are we supposed to find somebody if we don't know what they look like?" Breaker asked in his observation. Duke tapped on the third paper to show him. There was young woman with dusty looking tan hair that contrasted bother her tan skin and her lime green eyes. Next to that was a list of identifying tattoos.

"Ask around for Alashia Jasminer Raiders," Hawk shrugged not observing Duke's output of help.. "On one of her spy missions they had to wipe her data completely out of the system. However that worked out." He scoffed his last sentence.

"Anyways, you have three days to find her and bring her back." He added sending the group on their way.

….A Few Days Before…

"Hey! A.J! Get up!" A gruff voice called the woman out of her sleep through the door. She stretched slowly before falling out of the chair she had slept in on purpose. Once on the floor she lay flat out on back and stretched that way before standing to answer the door. A black haired man looked up at her impatiently before shoving a load of mail in her hands.

"What's all this?" She asked confused. She never had mail. Ever. A.J started to open a envelope identical to the rest.

"Something from the government." He said smoothly. She dropped it on the floor along with the rest before pushing them with her feet into a pile. The man chuckled at her actions before turning to leave.

"See you at work, J." He called over his shoulder. A.J didn't answer him, but instead watched him walk down the drive way and get in his truck. She returned a wave to him with a small smile; but one he was out of view she cursed. She was just getting to like this town! And that boy.

'_What does the government want with me this time?'_ She looked down disgusted at the odd little pile before turning into her house. It was a blank, empty cabin house; all it had was a mattress, a shower, a dresser drawer and a portable stove; even with that little bit of evidence she was here, it had to go. She grabbed all her clothes and stuffed them in an army green backpack that was tattered from its history of running. She looked around for anything else to take before gently picking up a small, leather wrapped book and placing it in the deepest pocket in her camouflage cargo pants. She pulled off her present shirt and replaced it with a black tank top. Taking the old shirt, she placed it on top of the portable stove and turned the flame high. After bailing out of the cabin, she walked her motorcycle to the paved road so there would be no tire tracks. She had to make it look like she died in that fire the best she could.

The rumble of the motor set her mind back to deep thoughts. Why was she always running from the government? After that simple slip on the mission, did she think that she would get punished or disgraced by that? Or was it…no. That was defiantly her fault. She _should_ feel guilty for that, she dissevered it.

She rode until the sun hid its face behind the Earth, and kept on going. She had to get back to Alabama by sunrise; it was where she always ducked her head. She was a sign that said 'Lake Eufaula, Welcome to Alabama' and sighed with relief. She was home finally, and just in time to put gas in her bike. She admired the moon as it danced in the lake water as she rode over the bridge and navigated her way to 'Al's 24/7'.

She stopped the bike, took off her helmet and started feeling like a bad ass all of a sudden. Just as she went to step down, _boom! _Her leg gave out from underneath her. Just as a truck pulled up as well, great. Now _everybody_ knew her mistakes.

….

"Well, we've checked ten of the twelve places on here. I don't think we'll find her today." Scarlett sighed tiredly to Breaker as she sat in the truck. The other guys were out asking if anyone knew 'Alashia Jasminer Raider'.

"That's an odd name. Alashia Jasminer." Breaker said mulling over the name. Very odd indeed. Ripcord, Roadblock, and Ripcord walked back to the truck with no leads. They had stopped asking people a few hours before instead started looking around to see if they could find her that way.

"Well, we've gotta get car fuel and our own fuel." Ripcord said as Duke started the truck, who nodded in agreement.

"Who's going to be open this time of night? Day." Roadblock said as he realized it was near 3 a.m. Scarlett leaned forward and pointed to a gas station sign that read 'Al's 24/7'. They pulled in alongside a motorcycle; just as the rider stepped off, she fell.

She looked down to see that the sharp gravel had dug into her palms. The slight pain was emphasized by her fatigue and hunger; she felt tears want to build up as she struggled to stand.

'_You're going to go soft too? Might as well start a family and play Susie Home-Maker if you're going to cave this late in the game!'_ She though harshly to herself. The sound of someone running across gravel approached her and she found herself being lifted up.

"Are you okay?" The blonde man asked her. She looked up at him a dizzy face before trying to steady herself.

"Y-yeah. Just a long ride." She said weakly as her weight shifted so she was sitting sideways on her bike. "I'll be fine." She assured the stranger as he reluctantly left as she buried her face in her hands.

"Do you think that is who I think that is?" Ripcord said when Duke came back.

"Yeah, it's her. Never would have expected to find her like this, maybe there won't be any trouble." He said still staring at the pitiful woman. "Okay, let's go." He said as everybody got out of the truck and advanced toward her. At first everybody was kind of tense, but when she didn't take notice to them approaching; they soon figured out she passed out.

"Well, job well done everybody. That was a very tough fight back there. Glad were all still alive." Ripcord said impersonating a general or a British adventure. Snake Eyes went to help Duke lift her up, that's when the gun fell out of her bag.

It didn't have the safety on, and when it hit the ground; it went off much to everybody's surprise! Duke dropped A.J's head, and she hit the ground maybe just as hard as the gun. Snake Eyes glared at him through his visor. Duke went to pick up her head, but Snake Eyes waved him off as if the say _"we want a LIVE person to bring back."_

He managed to pick and carry A.J bridal-style very easily, seeing that she was under-weight at the time. As they neared the truck, A.J inhaled and tightened her arms around his neck; that made him slightly uncomfortable. What was even more unnerving was her whispering "Missed you, James…"


	2. Home Coming

_**Here's another chapter. I know last chapter wasn't my best writing skills, I'm kind of in the middle of writers block. Maybe this chapter will be better to you, and its super long… so now you have like two chapters in one.. And Thanks for the reviews guys :) **_

"_Where does weakness stand?" A feminine voice spoke. The strict looking woman walked slowly by the lineup of teen age girls._

"_Not with us." They answered in union. The woman nodded her head in approval of her students._

""_And what are you? This 'us' you speak of?" She questioned turning on her heel and striding the opposite direction._

"_We are the __Hysmina. Named after the female spirits of fighting and combat of the Greeks we will up hold this name within the Brotherhood of Sisters. One flesh abiding strong and unifying." They recited their well learned motto. The woman smirked in pride of her students as she halted._

"_Dismissed. To give and receive scars." She said as the row of girls bowed._

"_Of course Athena."_

….

A.J woke up, but didn't open her eyes. Her head hurt, her body ached; she felt literally stretched. All that was in her mind was laying here and never getting up from the cloth and springs heaven. After reasoning with herself, she cracked her eyelids just enough to see the ceiling. She didn't have a pop-in title ceiling…

She snapped up with such a force the bed she was on rocked forward. Swinging her head in every direction quickly she found herself in something like a hospital. A few beds lined up with hers, supplies and tools placed neatly around the area; no one in sight. Slowly moving her feet off the side of the bed, A.J kept her eyes on the door that apparently must lead to 'the office'. Once she balanced herself she backed away towards the door leading out, never glancing from the 'the office' door. Her weak, strained body fought against gravity threatening to push her backwards; when she hit something solid. Her blood stopped in her veins as well as her heart in her chest. Eyes wide, she looked up in to a black, reflective visor.

That was her cue to flip sideways. Luck was on her side as she landed on a nearby bed, snatching the IV stand as her only weapon. Weakness was replaced by adrenaline, fear was replaced by raw 'instincts'—fighting moves and tactics drilled in her mind – as she adjusted her hold on the make-shift weapon.

The black clad opponent took his own stance as they both waited for the first move. A.J sized him up; bulky, large, tall. A little too much muscle to be quick and light on his feet; she was far thinner. Less weight and more room to bend.

…

Snake Eyes watched the scrawny woman as she stayed crouched on the bed. He was slightly shocked that a woman in her condition was able to flip that fast and land that accurately. Epically after watching her wobble backwards for five minutes.

She looked rather feral with her bright green eyes locked on him. Her dusty blonde hair that framed and spiked all around her face before being neatly tucked in a braid that led down her back. Tanned skin added to the 'survivor' look. The four feet between them seemed too short of a distance.

Without warning she slammed the four legs of the stand onto the tile and swung her body around in an effort to slam-kick him. He caught her foot before it hit his face, just what she wanted. Once she felt that he had a firm grip, she swung the rest of her body to the left since he had her left foot. Doing a half second hand-stand, she gripped the slick tile and swung her legs over – Snake Eyes – attached. He found himself on the ground, just in time to see the woman escape.

….

"Ma'am!" A young man called as he burst through the door, interrupting Hawk and a silver haired woman. She glanced over to the messenger as he saluted; she nodded to say 'go on'.

"A.J Raiders has woken up…and escaped…..from the informatory that is…" He said trying to catch his breath. She thought a second before nodding to dismiss him.

"Walk with me, General?" It was more of a demand than a request. He followed her out the door as she took the hall to the informatory. Hawk was about to ask something when a startled yell came from down the hall. The sight of a few people pressed against the wall with their papers scattered along the floor and frenzied looking woman in the middle.

"Sui!" The sharp command made the woman drop to the ground cross-legged and bowed her head. Hawk looked at Srgt. Flood with amazement. She smirked to him before walking slowly and intimidatingly toward the sitting figure. Her whole body moved with her deep, fast breaths.

"Féach ar orm…(look at me)" Srgt. Flood said with a flowing Irish accent. The sitting woman slowly looked up at her. A.J's green eyes met Flood's shale grey before dropping back down in respect. Flood looked her over with a frown on her lips. Her prized student was looking frail now, looking scared; not the proud warrior she had taught.

'_I told them it was a mistake to take her away from her team…'_ She taught with pity before regaining her posture.

"Maith thú a fheiceáil arís(good to see you again)." She said, her response was A.J's nod. She had been taught not to speak to or answer higher ranks unless told to do so. That was higher ranks in the Brotherhood, not out here.

"Speak. Inis Hawk Ginearálta de féin, ach ní an Bráithreachas lua. Labhair le do oiliúna lasmuigh amháin(Speak. Tell General Hawk of yourself, but do not mention the Brotherhood. Speak of your outside training only)." Flood's eyes followed A.J's movements as she stood. _'Graceful as ever…'_

Flood cleared her throat and wrapped a heavy arm around A.J's shoulders.

"Tripwire, General Hawk. General, Tripwire." She said motioning to each person at the sound of their names like a normal introduction. General Hawk held out his hand and A.J took it, but not without a firm grip. Instantly her tense aura vanished into a relaxed one. She realized she was in the Pit with the Joes, here home!

"I know you, you don't know me. I worked here about five years ago." She gave a friendly smile as her arm retreated to behind her.

"So I've read." He smiled back. Flood and Hawk talked for a while leaving 'Tripwire' to pick up on the changes that have happened.

"Tripwire, go find your old team. Now that everything is sorted out." Flood said without Hawk's approval.

"I'll introduce you to your new team later." Hawk said changing his plans fit to Flood's. A.J bowed slightly before skip-stepping off. She looked down to see if she was in appropriate clothes or not. She still in her clothes from yesterday; which she was glad of. The halls were changed a little, some rooms had been moved; subtle changes here and there but nothing huge.

Wondering around for a while she found the rec. room, the cafeteria, and a few offices. She stopped to think about where her old teammates would be when a cry of joy broke her thoughts. She spun on her heel and broke a thousand watt smile.

"Trip?" The Hawaiian woman asked with her arms open as if to say 'Don't stand there, come hug me!'

"Tap!" She dashed to her friend and crashed into her with a bone-crushing hug. Both of the women laughed and hugged each other tighter.

"Oh my God I'm so happy to see you!" Tripwire broke the hug to look at her friend.

"Mutual feeling is mutual. I've missed you sooooooo much, J! Where'd you even go!" Tap said with tears of joy in her eyes.

"I'll tell that lovely story later. Where is everybody else?" She asked. Tap flipped her raven black hair over her shoulder and grabbed Tripwire's hand. She pretended to trip like Tap was pulling her hard before they both chuckled. Tap stopped in front of the rec room and put a finger to her lips.

She opened the door and Tripwire back flipped inside. "Ta-da!" She said landing like a cheerleader. A black woman with a shaved head looked up from her paper tiredly before jumping off the couch.

"Oh my dog, Tripwire!" She screamed then leapt on her friend, wrapping her legs and arms around her.

"Woah there, Lady! Good to see you too!" She hugged her back before Lady TNT let go.

"Your hair so pretty! Did you dye it?" Tripwire asked in a really girly voice.

"Yeah girl! You know me and my hair, I'd die without it. Mhmmm." Lady TNT

said cocking her hip and playing her pretend long hair. All three laughed before sitting down to talk about where she's been.

…._**Extra…..**_

It had been a few hours since the trio re-united. Tap was still a technician and recorded all that went down – 'modern day scribe' – and TNT was still the explosives exporter Tripwire knew and loved – and competed with every now and then. Tripwire was a little sad that her friends were still 'the other guys'. The Joes that no one knew or spoke of.

The Rec. Room door opened and General Hawk appeared. They stood and saluted before being put at ease. More people came in behind him; A blonde guy, a black man, a red haired girl, a few others kind of hidden and…the ninja guy she took out.

Hawk introduced them as her 'new team'. She shook their hands except when it came to the black clad guy, she simply nodded her head. He returned the action.

"What'd you do?" TNT asked folding her arms over her chest. She saw the strange tension between her and Snake Eyes.

"I kinda ' ' him when I woke up in the sick bay…" She gave an innocent smile as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Are you trippin'? Don't answer that, but really? Girl that is Snake Eyes! He's a ninja and apart of the ALPHA team!" TNT laid it on her, letting her 'ghetto' accent slip out.

"…Your point?" Tripwire asked. She was a little un-impressed by this guy, defeating him and all.

"You'll get to fight him later. _Real_ fighting." Tap whispered to her. Tripwire smiled a bit, she loved a good fight.

"Oh, your room is still here. Just like you left it." TNT said standing up and stretching. TNT was skin, tendons and bone; in high school her nickname was Lady Stick Figure.

"Sweetness. You don't think that hot dog is still in there do you?" She said following her, Tap at the back. TNT gave a disgusted look.

"After five years? Oh dog I hope not…" She shuddered.  
….

Turns out Tripwire's room was the supposed empty room across from Snake Eyes'. Her two friends were behind her and some of her nee team followed along. She punched in her password, turned the key and entered another password.

"I like making up passwords." She joked as she opened the door. Well, it didn't smell bad; that was a good sign. The door opened to her living room, a hall lead to the bedroom and bathroom and a small kitchen was in the other door.

Her living room was awesome to the guys. Flat screen TV at least 48 inches with several games stacked on multiple game stations. An silver and electric blue futon matched the walls; and her motorcycle.

Leaded on the wall was a lean Chopper. Ape-hanger handle bars, black carved leather seat, electric blue with silver flames contrasting nicely. It was built for two people, but no back rest. On the front seat was craved 'A.J's Spot' in white barbed wire letters.

"Oh, nice bike." Ripcord said as he stretched out a hand to touch the smooth tank.

"Touch it and die." Tripwire's warning came from the kitchen. He pulled his hand back in surprise as everyone else chuckled.

"Is the hot dog still in the microwave?" TNT asked from the kitchen door way.

"….yes…." Tripwire said as the group came to 'eeewwws' and 'that's so sick'.

"You want to blow it up, T?" She laughed and TNT nodded with the disgusted look on her face.

After the fun had died down and everyone left, Tripwire took a shower and huddled under her double stuffed blankets and triple stuffed pillows.

"Oh man, it's good to be home." She sighed before falling into a comfortable sleep.

_**Okay guys that's it for now. It now it was really boring and really long. But Next chapter is some Tripwire kickin' ass! If you would like your character put in, drop me a review with their description and what-not. Of if you want to see a Joe in here, tell me. **_


	3. Need a Partner?

_**Woo momma! I think this is the fastest I have ever began a chapter after finishing one! I've also noticed that sometimes screws up my orginial lay out and typing. I don't get it! Anyways, tell if you see something out of place or do not understand something; because it may be missingnand I thought it was there. N/A: **__"remember, TWO quotations in italics means Snake Eyes is talking." – 'This is thoughts with just one'. __** Sorry for making you guys confused in advance. And thank you kindly for the reviews and encouragement. :)**_

Snake Eyes had gotten up early as usual so he would have to training room to himself for a little while, but what he found was that two occupants had already arrived. They were obviously early sparers.

"You will die by my hands!" He turned back around at that. He suspected that someone had started trouble and went to break it up; the only thing that stopped him was when he saw that it was TNT and Tripwire. TNT un-skillfully thrust herself at Tripwire, who stepped to the side as the black woman stumbled to a stop.

"Pst, Mr. Ninja." He snapped around to see the Hawaiian girl called 'Tap' sitting against the wall holding a video camera. "You're blocking my view a bit, sir." She said quietly. Snake Eyes nodded and stepped to the side, out of her way. Tap had the classic huge almond eyes and round face; her bangs and hair framed her face so she looked even more child-like.

"Do not run from you fate! Though, it will not last long." TNT smirked with an evil chuckle before engaging the silent Tripwire. TNT threw a fist that landed right on Tripwire's left cheek. Her head stayed to the side for a second as if in shock before she spun in the air and landed a blow with her shin in TNT's ribs. She fell to the ground with a cry and Tripwire resumed a stance. They were exchanging real, hard blows; but TNT's sentences seemed staged.

"They're re-enacting a play. It's about a deaf samurai who is being hunted by a ninja because his honor lies upon killing him. When the samurai learns that he was to be killed for a son's honor, he slays himself on the ninja's grave. They are only doing the fighting of course, but still." Tap said as if reading Snake Eyes' mind. He looked at her over his shoulder, but she was focused on filming.

"You can ask me questions ya know. My sister is deaf and I hear you use ASL." She said without her eyes leaving the LED screen. "And I have great peripheral vision." She added just as Tripwire was struck in the mouth by TNT's kick.

"Oh Shit!" She said taking the hit and falling to the ground.

"Ha! You lose! Deaf people don't talk!" TNT shouted in victory before jumping on Tripwire and pinning her arms by the side of her head.

"Deaf people do too talk." She said flipping over so TNT was pinned.

"They do? Oh well, you lose anyways." She gave her a 'duck-face'.

"Woman, look who's pinned." Tripwire said with a smirk.

"Its 'LADY' not 'WOMAN' get it right!" She said flipping them once more.

"Woman." Tripwire taunted flipping them again.

"Skippy." TNT said flipping them again.

"That was one time!" They flipped again.

"Oh really? What about all through middle-school?" They flipped again.

"You're right." She said flipped them before back-flipping off of her and landing on her feet. TNT laughed slightly as she handed Tripwire her black, fingerless gloves to her. They were odd because of having no fingers, but the gloves ended around three inches away from the wrist.

"Oh I also found your lucky necklace. Can you believe it? The first mission you didn't wear this was the mission you got booted." TNT said holding silver chain with an odd pendant on it; a metallic red dragon wing partially covered by a silver eagle wing that was over lapped by an electric blue jet wing as they were fanned out in a beautiful display.

"I've been looking for this everywhere! I told you it was lucky." She smiled as she put it on, the familiar and comforting feel of it returning. She looked down at it again with a bigger smile. _'I'm so glad I passed out now.' _

TNT turned and whistled to Tap with her read-drum busting sound. "Yo, Nikki! Did ya get the fight?" She yelled to the woman as she stood up, pulling her denim shorts down first.

"Yeah! Oh and-" She turned to gesture at Snake Eyes, only to find him gone. She turned back "Never mind. Oh craps, my shift is now. I'll get the video uploaded later, see ya!" She called rushing out the door.

"I guess I'll get gone too. Working on my sniper skills since explosives have lost their shine." TNT said grabbing her bag and heading for the door.

"See you later, T!" Tripwire called to the closing door before practicing her boxing moves on a pretend opponent. She threw few more punches around before turning to go pick up some weights when she nearly bumped into Snake Eyes but she rocked back on her feet putting a foot or two more between them.

"_Nice moves. Need a real opponent?" _ He signed hoping that she understood so he wouldn't have to use the note pad. She looked at his hands a second as if trying to place the signs before answering.

"Sure. But this isn't about the first time we met is it? Because I'm really sorry about 'A.J-ing' you." She said putting her hands up to show her sincerity. If she knew anything, it was that pay-back was a bitch.

"_No, I just usually spar with new recruits." _He assured her.

"I'm not really new. I kind of just 'came back' guess you know that though." Tripwire said clicking her knuckles in more of a playful manner then threating. He noticed her face held a curious child look. While most frowned and their eyebrows were low when relaxed; her lips were in a line to show her neutral emotions, eyebrows high and level, eyes open to everything.

"_Ready?"_ He quickly signed as he took stance; she followed his actions in reply. He was the first to move, aiming a kick to her ribs. She grabbed his leg by the calf and the side of his foot as she raised it higher then shoved him backwards.

He summer-salted to regain balance just as she came at him with a punch. He blocked by crossing his arms at the wrist to protect his head; a mistake. She punched him in his unguarded gut, forcing it up into his ribs. He slapped her hands on her arms and slung her to the ground, she traveled along the force; thrusting her feet against his fore-arms to pry his steel-trap grip off. He would have held on, but her toes dug into his tendons. This was the first time he realized she was barefoot.

Once his arms let got she pushed her legs up and over her head; landing in her fighting stance for another round.

He faked her out by throwing a kick to the right, she leaned left just in time to meet his fist. It threatened to spin her to the ground, but she focused the spin once more; spinning a complete 360 and delivering a force driven punch to the point of his jaw—the part under the ear, a strong pressure point—as he stumbled back. For a second he knew his jaw was broken; but it turned out intact.

Snake Eyes turned to face her again, she still had the child-like look on her face as well as a bruise tinting in. He saw where hand prints were red on her fore arms as well as sweat shined over her skin. This was one of the only times he felt bad about leaving painful bruises on a person. Especially someone who looked eager for them. Tripwire wasn't fazed by them, the pain of fighting was as good a massage right now; she had been out of the action for far too long.

She faked a left kick as he reached to catch it, she slammed her elbow into his right arm. He reached with his left to grab her foot and managed to grip the ankle. Tripwire found herself upside down by one foot. Her baggy 'AC/DC' T-shirt was pulled down by gravity – what a pervert it can be!

His eyes found tattooed snake scales on her side; not just snake scales but a snake as it appeared to wrap around her stomach. He was about to take a better look when his foot was yanked out from under him. His back hit the ground, he barely had time to stand. On pure luck, he bumped Tripwire to the ground just as she was about to get on top of him. He pinned her down as she blew her hair out of her face.

"Lucky." She said with a smirk before pulling her knees to her chest and pushing him off then back flipping to her feet.

"_Do you always do that?" _ Snake Eyes signed with his head tilted to the side.

"Don't be hating the A.J-ness!" She said pointing accusingly at him before cart-wheeling to the other side of the room. She touched the wall and broke off of it in a dead run, then turned it into back-flips; flipping all the way back to Snake Eyes.

"Took me two months in the sixth grade to get that down." She informed him while brushing her dusty colored hair back with her fingers. "I didn't catch your name. I wasn't really listening to Hawk until he said 'this is your new team'." She confessed.

"_Snake Eyes."_ He signed back.

"Well, Snake Eyes. I have a plane to fix so, 'til we meet again." She bowed then back-flipped one more before disappearing out the door.

'_Which I hope will be after my jaw heals.'_ He thought sliding a finger over the now tender spot. He smiled under his mask before a group of new recruits entered to room nosily.

…

Tripwire jogged down the halls searching for the hanger. They had changed this wing a little too much. Just as she was about to round a corner she nearly slammed into someone –she's gotta stop doing that—and slid an awkward stop; land her on her face. She looked up to swear at the person to meet familiar violet eyes.

"What are you doing on the ground?" She asked calmly with no emotion.

"The floor looked like it needed a hug. He says people have been walking all over him!" Tripwire said making a fake crying face. The standing woman reached down a hand to help her up.

"Wow look at you. Haven't seen you since I left the Brotherhood, looking good Nightshade." Tripwire threw thumbs up at her old friend who gave a slight smirk in return.

"Are you lost again?" She asked tilting her head a little.

"What? Me? Pfft! Haha, when have I ever- known where I'm going? Show me the hanger please ma'am." She said slumping her shoulders over to exaggerate her desperation. Nightshade rolled her eyes and lead Tripwire to the hanger.

"Here you go." The woman nodded her head towards the open door that lead to the familiar hanger.

"Thanks, Shade. Come with me? I don't know anybody here and its really awkward." She begged her.

"You just want me to be your one-man-audience as you 'magically reunite with your plane'." Nightshade called her out.

"That too. So yes?" Tripwire said as Nightshade nodded her head. Tripwire back-flipped once more.

"Don't do that in here." Nightshade scolded.

"Haters gonna hate!"

…..

After checking countless planes and jets the pair found a tarp covered few on the 'old side' of the hanger which had been extended. Racing over, Tripwire reached for her knife; the knife she left in her room.

"Hey, Shade? Can I barrow something?" She asked cutely as the brunet stared blackly at her, then handed her a knife to cut the ropes. Within minutes the royal blue of the jet was exposed to the air.

"What jet is this?" Nightshade asked looking at the unfamiliar aircraft. Tripwire would drag everybody with her to see her new jets anytime she got them.

"This is the Blackbird. The stealth bomber I got when you were on some mission." She replied running her hand along the massive wing happily then kissing it.

"Wow, really?" Nightshade joked. Tripwire slammed her head on the wing and began rubbing her cheek on it with content look on her face.

"Creep." She scoffed at Tripwire who laughed.

"Can't wait to fly again! Agh, been far too long." She said looking at her far more serious friend. If there was more of a difference between them, that was it. Tripwire was more care-free and comfortable, while Nightshade was ever watching. It had been like that, even when they were in the Brotherhood of Sisters. Tripwire let her mind go back to the days of her early teenage years.

"_The Brotherhood is a place of refuge, a sanctuary, a haven. When one stumbles he will find strength in his brother. The Brotherhood is a place of refuge, a sanctuary, a ha-" She stopped to keep the tears from rolling down her face, but lost the battle. Her blood soaked hand covered her face as she broke down. Two larger women forced her up and carried her out of the room by her arms._

"_Where does weakness stand?" The meditating teacher called calmly._

"_Not with us." The answer came. The entire group of cross-legged teens had several, deep, bleeding slashes upon them. Young Tripwire tried to focus, but her 'Passage Wounds' were upon her wrist. Blood leaked down in rivers of red. No one had bandages, if they died; they were too weak to walk among them. Blood loss made her woozy as the room spun slightly, but it stopped when a tap on her shoulder brought her back. She looked over at a younger Nightshade who looked at her from the corner of her eyes as if to say 'don't let Master see you'._

"_Menhit?" The angelic voice sent shivers of fear down young Tripwire looked at the white haired but young woman mediating. "Would you like to rest?" That was challenge. A bad challenge._

"_For why? I am not tired." She answered as she was trained to._

"_Not tired? Will a run ease your energy?" She asked. Another challenge. _

"_Yes ma'am!" She replied and leapt to her feet and exited the door. If you answered who you wanted, yu were punished or killed. Which ever happened first. Menhit, it was her name by the Brothers. It was the Egyptian goddess who's name meant 'She who massacres'. You were given a name, and you would live up to it. Everything it meant in every meaning in would be forced to kill the innocent and the young… _

"Hey! Trip! Wake up woman!" Nightshade's voice broke the flash back dream. Tripwire snapped her head up and glanced around before setting her head down again. Sweat came down her face.

"Agh its hot in here…"

…**.**

_**Well? Did you hate it? Did you like it? Tell me! And sorry for any/all mistakes. Just tell me and I'll fix it. Nightshade is blackrosewtich1996's awesome character!**_

_**Also if you would like to add your Joe to the action, drop me a PM with their what-not! The more the fncking merrier! **_


	4. First Mission Surprises

_**Okay, so my cousin(who has a major crush on him) and a reviewer have alerted that the name 'Tripwire' has been taken by a real Joe. Curseth! I was going to change her name anyways but I'll be doing it sooner now apparently…. So does anyone have an Idea on what her new name could be? At the end of this chapter I will have a list of things for you guys. Another thing is I don't think I really know how to put her southern accent in so just read it like that because I am lacking writing skills. **_

It had been a little under a month since Tripwire had been brought back to the Pit. After the first few days of mingling with everybody, getting familiar with the slight changes and settling in; the lively tomboy had seemingly vanished. Once in a while she could be seen snatching an apple or walking down the hallway. But for the last few days all activity had ceased.

Lady T(as TNT made everybody call her now) and Tap had been working but had too noticed the changes. Tap suggested that Tripwire might be conditioning; she was underweight and lost all muscle tone over the years. And now that she was back she might have felt 'outweighed' by everybody else. She was very rough and tumble, so being seen as small would not work.

Lady T flung open the Rec. Room door, stomping straight to Snake Eyes who lowered him off the swords he was balancing on. Her folded arms, cocked hip, and annoyed face was not the best greeting to see.

"Have _you_ seen Trip?" She asked, irritation slightly hinting her voice. He shook his head as her eyebrow shot up. "No loud music? No sounds of something breaking? Nothing?" She asked again. Snake Eyes shook his head slowly. Lady T dropped her arms to her sides in annoyance as she stomped out the room mumbling unpleasant words in Swahili. The Alpha team glanced at each other before following the upset woman curiously.

She marched to Tripwire's door and quickly punched in and did all the motions in order to gain access. She opened the door as blaring music hit them. The thundering beat of Indestructible by Disturbed drowned out all their thoughts as their eyes fell on Tripwire; who was balancing upside down on a bar with 20 pound weights on her feet as she did 'push-ups'.

Lady T didn't seem fazed; she just seemed more enraged as she walked up to the balancing Tripwire and poked her between the shoulder blades. Lady T stepped back as Tripwire swung down and managed to catch the weights with the tops of her feet. The dusty blonde released on arm to press a button her other wrist and the music stopped.

Tripwire was different looking; her arms were defined by muscle, she looked to be a healthy 120 pounds and her hair 'spikey bowl cut' was longer and even more unruly yet the braid leading down her back was still neat. The only thing she was wearing was a modest sports bra and thigh high yoga pants. Over her now sculpted stomach and ads was the snake tattoo Snake Eyes as well as everybody else now.

The black ink snake was an Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail. It was circling right where her curves inclined the most as it was the one causing that. On her left thigh the tail of a tiger was spotted.

"So…is everybody just gonna stare at more or what?" Tripwire asked breaking the very awkward silence. Everybody—except Lady T—looked back up at her face.

"Damn girl!" Ripcord said, receiving a punch from Scarlett soon after.

"That's what they tell me." Tripwire gave sarcastic smile.

"They also say 'Where the hell have you been?'" Lady T said putting her hands on her hips. Tripwire gave a cute 'I'm sorry' smile as she continued to hang by her arms. Lady T wasn't impressed by that.

"I know you have your little 'issuses' and what-not, but girl you can't just disappear like Who-Dingy!" She scolded.

"Houdini. It's Houdini not Who-Dingy…." Tripwire dared to correct as she glanced away from Lady T's dagger bearing stare as light snickers passed around.

"And another thing; why couldn't we hear that music? It was loud enough to shake the Rector Scale." She asked while the trademark mischievous grin crept on Tripwire's face.

"The month before my 'accident' I had it sound proofed—by me of course—but hey. That's why all my posters were down, but I put them back up." She said as she dropped down and motioned to the walls now crammed with random posters. One of which was caution tape yell and read 'Caution: Ninjas fighting Pirates with lazar guns.' That caught everybody's eye.

"Anyhows, put on some clothes and get outside before I kick your butt." Lady T said leading the group out the door.

….

It hadn't been five seconds A.J walked out the door when an alarm sounded. She wasn't new here, or stupid, and headed with the rest of the crowd as they crowded in the 'Controls Room' where all the computers and security actions went on. She immediately made her way to Tap's desk where Lady T was already at. Tap did just what she was named after; tapped that keyboard like it was the only thing keeping hell away.

"What's going on?" Lady T and A.J asked in union.

"Something made the firewall drop on its own! I can't see what did it or if anything has gotten in!" The normally laid back woman growled in anger as she began mumbling curses in Hawaiian. Suddenly; the lights, the alarm and all the screens went dead.

Then, the huge screen on the wall blinked to life; showing something like an email alert. Tap clacked her keys and image showed on her screen as well.

"Get the General, someone. Now!" She uncharacteristically ordered as one man scuttled through the people, retrieving the General. A.J moved to the right of Tap to make room for him as he examined the screen.

"Open it." He said as Tap gave him a hesitant look. "Open it." He repeated as Tap did what he said. The email opened showing an area code and a link. Tap clicked the link as it opened it several maps, aerial views and road images of the same place. At the bottom it read:

'Have fun on the treasure hunt, kitties! – Witch Doctor.'

"Who the hell is 'Witch Doctor'?" Hawk asked as everybody gazed at the massive screen. It all pointed to an abandon building in Canada. A.J Thought a second thinking but couldn't come with anything but that annoying song 'The Witch Doctor.'

"What do you think it is?" A.J whispered to Tap. As if on cue, a pop on the screen appeared.

'Need a hint?' It read. Tap clicked it after receiving the General's go ahead. It opened to something else whish also had words…yay words.

'What makes people sad? What is on a sunny day?'

"Cracker jack is messing with us…" Lady T mumbled trying to figure out the riddle like everybody else. The screen flashed 'TIMES UP' and the screen showed a paragraph:

'Once when I was young, I froze a live snake. Then, ten years later when I was moving I found it in the freezer. As a gag, a tried to bring it back to life. I succeeded! It was amazing! I named that snake Treasure after what she was; my treasure. Though I may not bring this snake back to life, you know someone who can.'

And the screen set its self back to the maps. Whoever set this up really wanted them to go to this place.

"I think we should go. You never know what it could be." A.J suggested. "I think Red-Left could get us there in a few hours." She added mentioning one of 'her' jets. It could hold eight people, loads of weapons and even seven bombs all at once and still make record time.

Hawk noticeably was mulling this over. "Alright, Alpha team, move out at 0600 hours." He went to turn but an idling A.J made him stop. "Tripwire, that means you." He added before leaving. A.J smiled hugely before skip-running down the hall to get her gear.

'_Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! A mission so soon, couldn't be happier!'_ She thought grabbing her old gear and slightly frowning. _'Tripwire. Stupid old name. Need a new one so I won't be the stupid old me…'_ She thought darkly trying to keep the memories at bay. She focused on her upcoming mission instead.

….

A.J found herself in her happy place—you know the ones people tell you to find when you get upset. Flying her fastest jet, to an exciting mission, with her new team. Just the thought of the thrill of danger set her lips to smile. Her black flight helmet and huge yellow goggles were what made her feel awesome. The yellow contrasted and focused light as she looked through them.

"Hey, I think I solved the riddle!" Ripcord exclaimed gaining everybody's attention.

"What makes people sad? Dead things. What appears on a sunny day? Sunlight!" He said to the very unimpressed audience.

"So.. Dead Light? That's a romance novel. I think." Scarlett said.

"Maybe this guy wants us to read more." A.J cracked a lame joke that only she smiled at.

"That's thing about him freezing a snake then bring it back to life. It was just..ugh.." Breaker said shaking his head as if unable to finish the sentence. Everyone agreed with him on that.

"Approaching drop zone. Get ready people." A.J warned as everybody slipped on their flight-suits. A.J moved a few things around on the touch screen before un-buckling her belts and heading back.

"Okay, the plane is going to pass over the drop zone in five minutes. It will circle back around in ten minutes. I can call it to get here faster and pick us up or circle back around once more for ten minutes. Depending on the time. If we don't order the jet after the first ten minutes it will send an alert to the Pit; saying we're dead." A.J pulled off her helmet but placed her goggles in her suit before she slipped it on.

"Then communicators have 'survivor-stretch'. Don't know why it's called that but this is what it does: You will receive a message after the Pit does. If you are alive then tell them, that's how you tell people you're alive and need to be picked up." She finished and slammed the side of her fist into a button which opened the plane's hatch. Everyone jumped out accordingly and landed close together.

The building was abandon just as the maps stated. A huge, manufacturing building that was collapsing and windows were busted out here and there. A.J pulled her goggles back out and pressed at side button; setting it to heat vision. No movement outside or inside; no heat signatures at all. The top building was warm with the Canadian summer air but the lower half was around thirty degrees.

"Odd. The top of the building is hot air and the lower half is obviously being cooled somehow." She stated pulling her goggles to the top of her head so she could look at her teammates. "Wonder why…" She said to herself.

"Only one way to find out." Duke sighed tensely and started off towards the building with the others following him on alert. Nothing gave them reason to be tense, it was either their training or the open invitation. A.J fell back with Snake Eyes unintentionally as she had her goggles set to night vision. She was scanning everything. Literally.

"Edgy much?" Ripcord quietly teased her when he noticed this.

"Just hate the damn dark." She muttered with her southern accent creeping in more than usual, something that showed her discomfort. They cautiously entered the building—through the front door this time— and began their search.

"The letter didn't say what to do after this did it?" Duke asked surveying the area. He noted the four hallways leading to unknown places. A.J set her goggles back to heat vision as she studied the halls with him. One was about 80, the other 70-ish, and the other two were close to 30-45 degrees.

"Those two halls," She said pointing to them while flipping through the settings on her 'high-tech shades' as she called them. "Have the lowest heat signatures. The guy said he froze a snake, let's take this hint." She added. They split into teams of four to go down the two halls. Snake Eyes, Duke and A.J to the left—the coldest—and Scarlett, Ripcord and Break took the right one.

A.J found herself up front as she scanned the halls for their shifting signatures. Without even acknowledging it; she fell through a hole in the floor.

"A.J!" Duke yelp and tried to grab her; but she was gone. "A.J! You there?" He yelled down. No response. The 'other team's footsteps came from in front on the hole. The hall just lead around in a loop.

"What happened?" Scarlett asked observing Duke on his knees looking down the dark hole.

"A.J fell through." He answered quickly and motioned for the others to be quiet as he listened.

"Hey! I found Bruce Lee!" A.J's voice came up. Everybody let out the breaths they didn't know they were holding.

…..

A.J had just fallen through a random hole and found herself next to a glass casket of sorts. It had all sorts of medical machines hooked up. The Asian guy inside had tubes and cords hooked up to him. He was alive according to the heart rate monitor and the breathing-machine that was doing it for him. The one monitor attached to his forehead was flat lined; no brain activity. This guy was a potato.

"What do you mean you found Bruce Lee!" Duke shouted down.

"I mean I found an Asian potato! Get down here!" She shouted back up. After few minutes of silence she heard marred voices above her.

"How far down is it!" Duke shouted back.

"About 20 feet!" A.J answered honestly. After a few scuffling sounds of movements she just knew they had left her here down in this hole. It wouldn't be the first time….

The figure of Snake Eyes falling through the hole snapped her out of her thoughts as he landed close to her and the odd casket. He faced her first then the person in the casket and took a step back.

It couldn't be. Storm Shadow was dead. _DEAD_. Snake Eyes had killed him two years before. But as he observed the presumed dead man all the wounds he had last seen him with were healed and scarred over.

A.J Noticed a note on the ground she hadn't before. Picking it up, it read:

'Had you stumped? Storms make people sad, Shadows are what appears on sunny days. Your answer: Storm Shadow. – Witch Doctor.'

"How cliché of this guy." A.J shook her head and handed it to Snake Eyes who read it as well. Her wrist appliance buzzed and she pressed a button.

"Alright let's get moving. Ten more minutes people." She informed them as a rope dropped through the hole for everybody else to come down.

_**Well that was boring. Sorry if I put you to sleep. Maybe you dreamed something better. Anyways, A.J needs a new name! Suggest one! Do NOT make me call her 'Dixie' because you wouldn't suggest one!(thanks cousin for giving me the lame-o name 'Dixie'….)**_


	5. Ninja Scinece

_**Oh my gosh my inbox is broken from all the activity on this story. Not that I'm complaining ;) Anyways, this chapter gave me a fit! Re-wrote it forty-five million times. So enjoy it.**_

…

Difficult loading, difficult flying, difficult unloading; so far this Storm Shadow guy was giving off nothing but trouble to A.J. As well as picking up on the tense vibes from Snake Eyes, she could tell this wasn't going to be the smartest idea she's ever had. But then again, when had she had a _safe_, smart idea?

"Trip. Hey, Tripwire….. A.J!" Lady T swiped a hand across the sleeping woman's face. A.J snapped up straight in her chair looking around half out of it before resting her face in her hands.

"Good God woman, did you have to—I mean….." She started to fall asleep again. Lady T snapped her fingers repeatedly by her ears. A.J grabbed her hand and went to bite her fingers, but Lady T was too fast.

"Come on, we thought you might want to see this." Scarlett said in hopes of coaxing A.J out of her sleepy state. Not one to be left out, A.J forced herself to stand from the chair she fell asleep in while waiting for Nightshade to arrive at the infirmary. The two women made their way to stand with the Alpha Team.

Nightshade was there now, as well as a bunch of people. She stood by the bed Storm shadow had been moved to; looking at all the monitors, her fingers slightly moving in a random order. The crowd stood in a curious wonder as of what she was doing. As the 'show' was about to start, A.J put one arm on Lady T's shoulder and rested her head on it. Lady T gave her a raised eye-brow.

"Shut up, you're the one who woke me up." She jokingly snapped as Lady T shook her head. Finally, Nightshade moved her arms and placed her fingers in a premeditated position on Storm Shadow's head. The interest of the crowd grew as they began to move for a better look.

Lady T whipped her head over her should and gave a short, stern _Shoosh!_ Before turning back; satisfied at the immediate silence. Nightshade was focused on her actions only it seemed a she adjusted her finger's positions on last time, checking that the medic team was still in their positions, before applying equal pressure to them. First, the heart rate monitor started to pick up to eighty beats a minute for, the forty it had been. Then the brain wave monitor picked up regular activity as Nightshade released her grips. Almost immediately after Storm Shadow began choking on the air pipe that ran all the way to his lungs to supply him oxygen. The medic team rushed to remove the pipe leaving most of the crowd shocked.

"Common reaction when the person starts to breathe on the own. Saw it all the time at med. bases in Afghanistan." A.J assured Lady T and whoever else was in ear shot. Once the tube was removed they began sticking in IVs and other such things as a pair of random Joes began hustling the crowd out. Nightshade joined Lady T and A.J as they exited.

"Nice show Ninja-Woman." A.J said holding up a high-five hand. Nightshade tried to ignore it as A.J began moving it and a circular motion to get her to high-five back. "If you don't high-five my hand I'm going to high-five your face." Nightshade rolled her eyes and high-fived her back as A.J made a cheesy smile.

"So what exactly did you do back there?" Lady T inquired shoving A.J off her.

"It's kind of like pressure points; some will kill you, some will save you." Nightshade answered with a slight shrug.

"Trade secrets. It's like the Coca-Cola recipe." A.J told Lady T as the trio walked down the hall that would end their journey.

"I got a work 'til eight. You'll have to find someone else to spar with tonight." Lady T informed her as she left the group. A.J gave Nightshade a hopeful look, who answered her by walking off. A.J sighed as she made her way to the training room by herself.

…..

A.J found that treadmills were fun. She'd been running on this ne for about thirty minutes pushing it as fast as it would go. She used to love to run when she was still in college; pretty much the only good period in her life was college years. She had left the Brotherhood, she met Lady T, and she became who she was today.

In the Brotherhood she was taught to hate. To hate everything, to kill everything. There is, there was, and there will be only the Brotherhood. To have no self, to be brainless….

A.J gave her head a shake in attempt to clear her minds of such thoughts. That was over now. 'Menhit' was dead to the Brotherhood, only 'The Rebel' remained.

'_Rebel. Oh the old days.'_ A.J thought with a smile creeping up as memories came back, but she shoced them out again. After a few more minutes of running, she stopped the treadmill and headed down the stairs, on the level where the door was.

There were a few dabblers hanging around, mostly lifting weights. She noticed something out of the corner of her eye but kept going. Once she reached the door she spun around on her heel, coming face to face with Snake Eyes.

"Ha! You didn't think I saw you there." She smirked and opened the door, motioning for him to go first. Once they were out the door, she re-adjusted her gloves that no noticed anymore simply because she wore them all time. He was going to ask if she was following him before they were across the hall from each other.

"_I want to thank you for helping Storm Shadow._" He signed after a while.

"Don't thank me, thank Nightshade. I just forced her to do it." She joked. "Speaking of which, we need to have a rematch some time. You only won that time because I wasn't in condition." She waved a finger at him. He gave a silent chuckle.

"_Fine with me." _He signed back. Something was different about A.J. Most people by now would have asked the common 'Why don't you talk? Did you get shot in the throat?' or 'Why do you always were a mask? It's not like you have to hide from your own people.' But A.J never asked such things. And most women would be trying to impress him or act very shy around him, but A.J acted like everybody had the same face. She couldn't tell them apart, so she didn't treat them different.

"Cool. It'll give me a chance to try out my old boxing moves in put in with some karate." She said receiving a hidden look from Snake Eyes.

"_Never heard of combining those two styles before." _He signed. A.J gave short laugh at the comment.

"I guess I'm just a rebel like that." She shrugged turning towards her door. He hadn't even realized they were in the room corridor. "Well, good night." She gave a short wave before closing her door behind her.

Snake Eyes smiled slightly before going into his own room. _'Good night, Rebel.'_

….…

_**Holy cats in hell that took forever! All the other chapters took about an hour a piece. But I've had such bad writers block from the stress at work, I couldn't write! Anyways, this chapter is mainly just a filler to explain. **_


	6. The Past adn The probable future

_**Yay another chapter! After I FINALLY finished the movie all the way! Yeah, this wasn't based off the movie 100 percent. Mainly the cartoons and comics I grew up with but threw everything thing in there…yeah. But thanks for all the reviews and love!**_

_**Blackrosewitch1996 – my thoughts exactly ;)**_

…

Two Weeks Later:

"Die! Die! Die!" Ripcord yelled as he tapped the firing button over and over as he tried to protect Duke from A.J—newly re-named Rebel—in the video game.

"You know, telling me to die; won't make me die faster." She remarked simply as her character popped up behind Ripcord's and knocked him out. Without wasting time, she spun the joy-stick so her character summer-saluted by Duke's and put a gun to his head.

"Mission; Completed!" The rumbling voice of the narrator spoke over the scoffs and aggregated growls of the boys as Rebel leaned back in the couch. She smiled triumphantly to herself.

"Again. My visual was off that time." Duke scrapped the oldest excuse in the book out of hiding. Rebel shrugged and leaned forward once more, controller ready. She sat in the same pose as the guys; leaned forward, elbows on knees, feet apart in a mute dominate pose. Ripcord was first player controller so he pressed 'start' and the games began again. Literally. Just as the game was getting intense, an exasperated Lady T walked in. Rebel leaned over and pressed pause on Ripcord's controller.

"Hey, why the long face?" She asked as her friend collapsed into a nearby chair.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemon aid." Lady T said with sadness tinting every word. That was code for 'I'm still not approved for missions'. Rebel pulled her feet under her and everybody looked up at her standing on the couch.

"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Layleen Turner lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the woman whose gonna burn your house down - with the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineer buddy to invent a combustible lemon that'll burn your house down!" Rebel shouted making everybody crack up. If it was one thing she could do, it was lighten a mood.

"Speaking of which, has anybody seen Tap lately?" Lady T asked once the laughing died down.

"Or Nightshade for that matter?" Duke joined in.

"Snake Eyes vanished. Haven't seen him all day." Rebel added to the question quest.

"You should know, you've been hanging around with him a lot lately." Lady T gave a lop-sided smirk and crossed her arms.

"I've been hanging with everyone. You know people are my deal." Rebel smiled as she dropped down onto the couch on her butt. "Along with sarcasm and shit." She smiled before standing up and walking over to Lady T. Without warning she lifted her up and swung her over her shoulder as if she were wounded.

Odd for some, not for these two. If one was too tired to walk the path of life, the other would carry them. Symbolic and literal at the same time. Lady T opened the door for them as the exited the room.

"Where are we going?" Lady T asked, her slight depression returning.

"To find those who are missing." Rebel answered simply before waving at a few staring people.

"You've gotta fix everything, don't you?" Lady T felt Rebel nod. "Ever just thought about yourself for a second?" She asked.

"That's all I did for these last five years. Well, four actually. I got a little paranoid there at the end and kept running for place to place. I always was a pack animal." Rebel said plainly as if it was nothing.

"Jasminer, what did happen with you?" Lady T asked, her voice taking on the unfamiliar motherly tone. Rebel slowed her walking at the sound of the name her mother gave her. The past was meant to be where it was, behind us. It fuels us on our future; we must know where we came from to see where we're going. That meant a lot of things for A.J.

A.J was born to a Japanese immigrant and a woman powerful to a society. Her mother was one of the heads of the Brotherhood and tried to change it as she saw the corruption creeping in. When A.J was seven her mother was killed by an assassin from the Brotherhood and she lived four more years with her dear father before the Brotherhood claimed her.

After that the only thing that existed was the Brotherhood for her. With-in the first year she saw the corruption of it as it had grown into a twisted, controlling cult. It preyed on orphans and single parents, those who could be controlled with their small possessions with a promise of safety. Once she was six-teen she rebelled enough that the Brotherhood released her—practically dropped her—from their titles. She tried to take Nightshade with her, but she had her own reasons to stay in the hell.

One year on the streets before finding a job at a massage spa where her presser point training from the Brotherhood came in handy. She found herself with enough money to go to enroll in Auburn Alabama College and if the job kept up; stay there. She met Layleen, Lady T, in advanced physicist. They found themselves soon being close friends and splitting rent on an apartment. A.J met Wayne Sneeds—Beach Head—on the streets one day when she found herself lost. They kept in small contact before losing each other.

Lady T informed her of the Army where she wished to join and introduced A.J to her future career in the Air Force. After so many collage classes and reading the entire library, A.J and Layleen found themselves parting at the recruiter's office. After blowing everybody's mind, A.J found herself at nine-teen years old and in the top black ops branch in the world; that was if it 'actually existed'. She reunited with Beach Head and Lady T once there, and met three new people; Nikkam 'Tap' and Srgnt. Flood who turned out to be a 'survivor' of the Brotherhood as well. And a handsome artillery tech. named Adrian James Wess who was also called A.J, but they called him James instead. She and Adrian had hit it off quickly and everybody could see that the two were going to be more than friends as they shared the same humor, the same lovable personality and they ability to make anyone smile. And they were right, after the first year; James told everybody he was going to propose to her after this mission so they would have sometimes alone maybe and no one was going to screw it up for him like pretty much the rest of his life had been.

But during the mission, a bomb was unknowingly placed near A.J's fail-safe explosives. When the terrorist set the bomb off, it killed James and severely injured A.J. When she woke from her mini-coma, the first thing she wanted to see something that had already been buried. James. They gave her a bunch of the photos Lady T and Tap had taken of them, and everybody else while she recovered and A.J put them in the leather of James' favorite jacket to keep.

A.J blamed herself for the explosion since the explosion was far too coincidental. They discharged her to recover from her injuries. But she had no family to care for her, the only family was the one in the Pit. And the one she had killed. A.J went back to college with the money that was supposed to be used for medical treatment from the government and studied anything that sounded interesting. The first two years were perfectly fine and A.J recovered both mentally and physically; becoming a bush pilot in the Australian outback, then in the wilds of Africa, Japan, China and many more exciting places as she delivered food, mail and such to the people. But when news of a terrorist was spreading in the last year, panic rose and A.J ducked out of sheer paranoia and continued a trail of running. Her mind wasn't straight at all, she was scared and alone. So alone. Then, she was back at the Pit. The greatest thing that ever happened to her. A.J still had the jacket leather wrapped picture stack, with just a ton more of pictures added of course.

….

Rebel had just told about her last five years to Lady T before they noticed Nightshade and Storm Shadow training through the glass off the wall. Nightshade had been knocked down again on her butt and Storm Shadow held out an irritant hand for her. She had taken it before flashing an evil grin and pulling him down. He looked up to growl something at her when they had that strange moment of eye contact. It lasted a second before it broken and Nightshade shoved him off calling him an ass.

Lady T and Rebel looked at each other before breaking into awkward giddy grins.

"See I told you!" Rebel laughed.

"Shut up, she'll here you and then kill you in your sleep!" Lady T covered her mouth as they hurried on.

After a few more minutes they found Tap has been put in a 'classified' area where she is tracking the Witch Doctor's trace. They lost time when they started looking for Snake Eyes. Which half way through became the excuse to knock on people's room doors.

"I'm tired." Lady T groaned.

"Why? I'm the one who's been carrying you the whole time!" Rebel protested her whining as she finally slid her off her shoulders.

"Yeah but still. We've bee- Hey! You aren't wearing your necklace!" Lady T pointed out. Rebel sighed in aggregation; every time she didn't wear her necklace, something bad happened! Just as she was thinking this, a tap on the shoulder made her turn on her heel.

She turned to face Snake Eyes as he held up the beloved necklace. Her face lit up in joy when she saw the three pendants dangling down.

"You found it!" She exclaimed. "Where was it?"

"_I found it in the training room this morning. I looked for you but couldn't find you, so I was headed to hang it on your door." _ He signed to her, leaving Lady T in the dust. He moved it closer to her, sensing that even though she was comfortable, she had enough respect for him not to just reach up and grab it. She took it and pulled it over her head, hanging it in its rightful place.

"Thanks, Snake Eyes." She smiled at him to show her thanks, she would have hugged him; but that might not be a great idea. But then again, bad decisions make good stories. And she was all about a good story.

'_Maybe having to return that necklace a few more times wouldn't be so bad._' He thought suppressing his own smile. They just stood there in their own place while watched from the outside in.

'_So A.J wants to play match-maker with Storm Shadow and Nightshade. I guess I'll play a little myself.' _She mentally smiled. _'But then again, A.J was born on Valentine's Day.' _

_**I wrote this starting at 12.00 am. It is now 3.00 am. O.M.G Anyways, I probably won't even remember writing this! Fun fact: A.J was born on V Day. Woo. And I told a lot of her past in here, the Brotherhood is evil. Even if they have cookies. **_

_**I promise there is a BUNCH of action coming up! I'm writing these short chapters while I roll out the big guns. Oh yeah. **_


	7. Dogfight

_**Well, I wanted this chapter to be on the 4**__**th**__**, but we all see how that worked out… But here it is, I rewrote this one a few times because I liked things to be in other chapters. So far I think chapter nine will be epic. If I don't change it that is…..Anyways, here is THIS chapter; enjoy it! Also if something doesn't make sense, tell me and I'll fix it ASAP.**_

….

The unusual peace in the Pit was far too welcome. Everything checked out gold, as if all the terrorists took a day off. In the Rec. Room; Ripcord and Duke face off on a video game, Lady T and Heavy Duty quietly argued over everything that came up in the gun catalog, Scarlett once again was on her treadmill, Nightshade and Storm Shadow were missing and Tap finally was joining them as she sat in the corner with her laptop, doing work.

Meanwhile in the training room, Rebel was balancing herself as she did a hand-stand on the pull-up bars. Slowly, she removed her left hand from the bar and raised it so it was straight out. She then bent her elbow on the remain arm as she did her famous 'One-armed-upside down-push-ups-while-on-a-bar'. She kept doing this until her arm began to lose feeling. Placing her left hand back down, lowering her legs so they were as well on the bar; she called out to anyone behind her to gain way. After a few moments, she pushed herself off the bar with a back flip and landed gracefully.

She was sweating lightly, but kept cool by her usual work out wear of basketball shorts and a sports bra that showed off her Ouroboros tattoo. She pulled her out of the bun it was placed in prior to being upside down. She shook it like she were a dog, making the un-tame hair go even wilder. Rebel combed her finger through it as she sat down and crossed her legs. The top layer was now level with her jaw as the lower layer that was usually put in a braid was now to her butt. She contemplated cutting it as she pulled it into her view; her father never liked it when she cut it. She made a promise to him once she would never ever cut it as long as she lived.

Rebel smiled at the childish promise, as the smile of her father crept into her mind. Why was she thinking of her father so much lately? It was probably that Snake Eyes guy she had been hanging around. He and her father were much alike; except for the fact that Snake Eyes pretty much had no face, never talked and dressed in all black. It was probably the vibes he gave off; strong, mysterious, aware. Her father was an easy going, fun loving guy; but he could fold a frying pan with his hands. He often did so for attention at the numerous parties he held. He also enjoyed it when people would try to wrap their hands around his biceps because they often failed. He was a very powerful man when push came to shove, and passed many if not all his traits to Rebel.

Her thoughts went back to Snake Eyes, who was no doubt strong. He could fight, he was respected, and at least to her his company was enjoyable. Maybe the reason he was 'attractive' to her was the old memories of her father he brought back. The only bad thing is Rebel could tell by Lady T's body language she had other plans for the two other than being friends. Heck, judging by the way Snake Eyes was now acting he might have the same plans.

'_Well, actually that doesn't really sound that- what the hell am I thinking?'_ Rebel scoffed at herself as she began braiding her hair. _'It's thoughts like that don't win wars…agh! There I go again! Trying to be some else's perfect. The Brotherhood doesn't own you anymore Jasminer, you can think for yourself now. Shut up, I'm still figuring this out! They wrote their rules in my bones practically. And there I go arguing with myself. Goin' crazy over here.' _ She thought as she finished braiding her hair and stood. No sooner had her foot taken the first step, flashing alarms sounded.

"I hate this jet. I hate this jet. I hate this jet. I really forking hate this jet." Rebel repeated over and over just low enough so that the flight helmet mouth piece could not pick it up as she shifted her hands on the awkward yoke.

"Hey, I was enjoying a nice quite day and now I'm doing this. Stop hating my plane!" Ripcord came in over the radio. Okay maybe it wasn't low enough..

She tried her best to keep her eyes open in the skies for aerial attacks as the rest of the team checked out the report that could turn into a lead; but the nose of the jet kept getting in her way. The whole craft was awkward to her in every way. She was missing the Red-Left already.

The Egyptian sand below made things easier to see through her yellow goggles. The sky and the desert were wide and consuming; anything and everything else stood out drastically. Rebel listened intently to the silence for any sound or signal from her team as she stiffly turned the jet to circle back around when, a strange black dot greeted her in the West sky.

'_24.0(24,000 feet). No commercial aircraft would be flying this low. There's no landing strip around here either.' _Rebel sorted out the possibilities as she positioned the identification radar on it. It made a fee clicks and chirps before stating that there were no I.D signals pinging from the craft. The approaching craft was close enough by now she focused her artillery scope on it and zoomed in. It looked like a normal Mig-29; no standing out markings or attachments. She simply lowered her altitude and shifted her craft far to the East as to avoid the jet's wake and hopefully its pilot's vision.

Waiting until the jet was completely over and away from her, she once again raised her altitude and resumed her post course. Her mind drifted back to the odd aircraft just as rapid alert signals set off and two fast chasing jets appeared on the radar.

"Okay baby, I read your manual." Rebel spoke as she slid her hand across her lower jaw; attaching her oxygen mask. She pulled the yoke apart, firing buttons revealed on the top as she placed her thumbs on each. She could steer and fire at the same time now, the Red-Left might find itself with new gear soon.

She slammed the yokes sideways as the jet followed the motion; facing its attackers as she forced it up a notch. She peeked through her scope and frowned slightly at her findings; nice, big Cobra insignias on both. Either jet posed no warhead threat, but all the same; she must prepare for a dogfight.

"Ground patrol, this is Rebel. Got two Cobra jets headed my way, if they're in the sky they're on the ground. Keep your heads up, I'm engaging in battle. See you at the Pit or on the other side. Either way, Rebel four-ten." She announced nonchalantly before twisting the microphone out of her face.

She smiled as a wave of fear swept over her. The same feeling she had in Afghanistan, in West Point, in Rucker, in…silence. Heart beats slower. Breathing gets shallower. Pupils dilate, skin goes cold, blood stops in its veins. The buttons are pressed, the sights lock, the triggers are pulled. Bullets embed into steel as they pop wires.

Rebel delighted in the feel of the adrenaline as it slowed her world. Her mind wasn't scared, but her body was erupting with fear as she let out a war cry instead of a scream. The bullets plunged into the opposing fighters as they returned the fire. She was taking on four more fire than the other jets; but that didn't bother her one bit.

The twin Cobra jets closed closer together as Rebel's plane picked up speed. She slammed her body left as the jet tipped sideways. Her eyes grew in excitement as the tip wing of the right jet passed over the cockpit.

"Woo son that was close!" She laughed as she leveled the craft out. She checked to make sure the jets were following, they were. And they were following snuggly. Rebel by this time was laughing a drunk at a bad joke. Her body shivered against her emotions as if it knew what she was about to do. Well, of course it did….

She accelerated the speed before pulling backwards with all her strength. The nose rose with such force, Rebel was actually pushed down before being the weight settled on her chest, smothering her in the seat. The jet's engine stalled as she kept pulling back, making the jet back flip. It all happened in a second, but it seemed longer as Rebel settled the jet behind the Cobras.

"In the words of a noob; DIE DIE DIE!" She laughed death gripping the triggers. The bullets slammed into the engines of the Cobras. The right one gave and spun to the left, crashing into it. But Rebel was going 2,000 MPH straight into them!

"Oh shit!" She shouted slamming her fist on the eject button. The fell away as she was launched into the air as her jet slammed into the falling inferno as well.

"Meh, I hated anyways." She said calmly as gravity caught up and she started to fall. This posed another problem; she couldn't pull her chute and yet she was about to fall into the burning mass she was trying to get away from. "Mother Fu-! Son of a-! Damn cats in hell!" She shouted at this recognition. Only one thing to do….

Rebel pulled the knife from her boot and began cutting the straps halfway through. Her suit was built so it had that wing that free fallers used; that is what she was going to have to use. As she got closer the now separated burning crafts.

'_That's odd. For Cobra these are low as hell tech.' _Rebel though as she was just now getting a closer look before slicing her straps all the way through. She was able now to twist her body out of the way at least; not by much but anything helps. She pulled the wings out, even if this counted as far too early. She wasn't thinking clearly; she was high off of adrenalin.

Just as she thought she was in a safe zone, one of the jets exploded. The force knocked her about in the air, but no pain came. She sigh in relief, she wasn't hit by debris.

The lower her altitude, the dizzier and slower she got.

"Eheheuehe….I dun't think I can got arunline poison from eight feet?" She mumbled out as she tried to focus. She kept blacking out as she fell, this hadn't happened to her on her other flight aborts, why now?

She came to just in time to see the desert sand collide with her goggles. She heard the sounds of her colliding with the hard packed sands, as well as a snap. If it wasn't her neck, she was fine with whatever just broke.

Rebel woke again, her first instinct was to try and stand; she fumbled around her arms as she struggled to place. When she applied pressure it slipped and she quit there.

'_I'm not giving up, I'm not surrendering….I'm just negotiating with death…_' She thought before she slipped into unconsciousness once more.

….

_**I wrote this, uploaded and updated this at 3 am. So tired. Hehehe…I tried to make a cliffhanger….hehe…*passes out***_


	8. GoodBye

_**Okay, I have really got to stop writing my chapters so late that I don't even remember the and I forget everything I wanted to put in them. Gah! I'm annoyed with myself. So I'll have to cram in a bunch of stuff so you guys will get what's SUPPOSED**_ _**to be happening Anyways, I was listening to my favorite song when I wrote this(Mad World by Gary Jules) so you might want to try and listen to that before/during/after this chapter. I re-read my last chapter and realized I put in more than I wanted so I ruined the plot a bit.*slaps self* Anyways for this chapter I like to torture my characters, MUWHAHAHAH! Plus I like to bash technology. You'll see. **_

….

"Alpha Team come in. HQ to Alpha team. Situation report." Tap's voice came in their earpieces just as they found the report to be a dud. She seemed rushed or panicked.

"This is Duke, reading. What situation report? What happened?" Duke responded as the rest of the team tuned into the conversation. There was a moment of silence before static came in.

"Did you not hear that? For God's sake, Rebel just crashed her jet!" Everybody froze as their brains seemed to stop processing for a minute. Snake Eyes took two slow steps back towards the exit before turning and running. As he ran he listened to Tap inform the team on what technology failed to tell them over his earpiece.

"She tried to radio you guys, but radioed us instead. We tried to tell her to abort but the signal went haywire. All we could do was watch the S.O.S line for her to show up. She finally showed up on the tracking line along with the two Cobra jets. She collided her jet with them, assumingly after she ran out of ammo. She might have survived, I mean she could have…." There was a pause as everybody waited patiently. "I just don't want to have to tell everybody else that Alisha….just go look damn it….." The line went dead as everybody stood around in silence for their fallen.

"I just. I mean. I can't, even." Ripcord rubbed his head; it was only an hour or so ago she was saying how much she hated that jet. And she just died in it. Scarlett couldn't help but lean on Ripcord as she thought of all the times Rebel tried to get Scarlett to challenge her to a shoot off. Scarlett would accept it one out of ten times, but Rebel kept her smile on matter what. A.J's presence became like a painting; useless and underestimated but the second the artists died it was worth millions.

"Standing here isn't helping her if she is still out there." Duke said as he turned with the others behind him.

…..

Snake Eyes had already found the now smoldering wreckage of the three air crafts. Rebel's was the most demolished; charred steel, rubber melted, glass exploded everywhere as the nose was smashed inwards; the wings non-existent. Stomping down a few surviving flames he check for any sign of her seat ejecting, but by now it was unrecognizable if she had.

He sat down in the sand holding he head. Only hours ago he was contently watch her do her near impossible exercise before she seemed lost in thought. Only hours ago he found himself hoping he was in those thoughts before finding it stupid of him. One day ago he offered to teach her how to beat Nightshade with in their swords duels, and felt rejected her when she told him Nightshade was the one teaching her. He wished that two days ago he would have taken up her offer when she asked him if he wanted to fight her on one of her video games. So many wishes that wouldn't come true now; they couldn't.

Snake Eyes reached into his pocket and pulled out the pendant she gave him off her necklace. It was the red dragon wing and on the back was written two sayings: _'The man who angers you, controls you.' _ And_ 'A true solider fights not because he hates what is in front of him; but because he loves what is behind him.' _ Snake Eyes had complemented it one day and she took it off and gave it to him without a second action. She had also given him a golden chain to put it on so he could wear it if he wanted to.

He never wore it around his neck, but he kept it in his pocket. He hid it as he hid everything else. By a psychologists' standards it was a trait developed from losing his sensei assumingly to one close to both people; he was afraid of losing what he had so he kept his material possessions and relations small. And what he did have, he kept close and safe.

But, he had failed to keep A.J close and safe. He never showed it or told, but she was his—and many other people's—place of content. Around A.J he felt as though he didn't have a reputation to keep, he didn't have to be perfect solider; he was just that kid he was before with nothing to lose.

"Snake? Snake Eyes!" Duke's calling broke his thoughts. He wrapped the gold chain around his hand before standing up and walking in the direction of Duke's voice. Scarlett was searching the sand farther to the East as Ripcord searched the opposite direction, Duke stood facing the ground as Snake Eyes came beside him.

He looked down at what Duke was frowning at; the flight seat lay in a small crater, the two top straps were cut. The seat had a small area of blood around and on it but it didn't tell them that this is how she died. Maybe she cut herself out of the seat after she landed? But the parachute wasn't pulled; It was intact.

"Sabotage. Someone sabotaged it." Duke shook his head while biting his lower lip. _Why would anyone do that to Rebel as an individual? Had they known she was taking that jet? Was it for Ripcord and she took his place? When had they done this? Was there a mole in G.I JOE? _He head swirled with questions as Snake Eyes felt his anger rise.

Self-sacrifice for the team was one thing, but her escape and survival had been taken from her! Rebel didn't die, she was _murdered_! Had she even flown her jet into them? Did they smash her? What exactly happened here!

"Hey guys, I found her necklace." Ripcord panted slightly as he came behind them with Scarlett following, she had been silent this entire time with Breaker. Ripcord held out her necklace which now just held the silver eagle wing and metallic blue jet wing. Scarlett held out her hands which had Rebel's helmet with her broken goggles and dog tags inside.

"I-I found her suit o-over there." She softly said trying to keep the tears back as she pointed over her shoulder. Everybody thought that same things as random articles of her clothing came up; nano-mites. If she had been shot with some new fleshing eating weapon, this is what is would look like.

"She's gone. She's actually gone." Breaker finally spoke.

….

The team had been picked up and brought back to the Pit, where a small crowd awaited them; Lady T, Tap, Nightshade and Storm Shadow were in the front as they all held hopeful faces. Duke looked away as his stomach twisted into knots at the thought of telling Lady T her 'sister from another mister' flew her last flight. Oh why did this have to feel so familiar?

As the hatch lowered, Snake Eyes gently picked up Rebel's helmet filled with her other small belongings and stepped out behind Duke. Tap closed her eyes and hide her face behind Lady T as they came closer to them. Lady T's lower lip started to tremble as Snake Eyes carefully set A.J's helmet in her hands. No words were needed to be passed; they knew what happened, telling them would seem like salt an open wound.

Nightshade kept her face its usual stone though her eyes were full of hurt. Part of her wanted to take Snake Eyes by the neck and demand if he even tried looking for her. Her helmet wasn't good enough, she could still be out there! Had they given up that soon? She clenched her fists without realizing it and glared daggers deep into Duke and Snake as they walked pass.

A hand on her shoulder made her snap out of her silent rage as she turned her head to Storm Shadow. He gave her an indifferent face as she snatched her shoulder forward out of his grasp. Nightshade turned to Lady T who was now sitting on the ground with Rebel's helmet in her arms as Tap held her shoulders looking like she was planning a bloody revenge. Nightshade sat down next to them and hesitantly put a hand on Lady T's shoulder.

Lady T looked her with tears making streams down her cheeks. Nightshade nodded her head and helped her stand.

"Their tears are filling up their glasses. No expression, no expression. Hide my head I want to drowned my sorrow. No tomorrow, no tomorrow." She sang quietly as they walked.

"What song is that?" Nightshade asked trying to keep Lady T's mind distracted.

She smiled slightly as one more tear came down. "It's her song….Oh sweet, sweet Alisha Jasminer. Why'd you do it?"

…..

_**Emo chapter is emo. I just wrote myself into a depression. You would get it to, but I deleted like half of what I originally had. Next chapter: IS A.J EVEN ALIVE? (because I might have trick ya :] )**_


	9. Double Surpize

_**This chapter holds a surprise! A big surprise! And I'll need your help with it later on, READ TO UNDERSTAND!**_

….

_**(**__**this is one of the things where in one of my late night chapters I didn't manage to fit in the foreshadowing.)**_

Snake Eyes walked slowly towards Rebel's room with her goggles in her helmet. He was wearing the dragon wing necklace as well as the other two pendants and her dog tags. Lady T said that she would have wanted him to have them, but they both knew it was because she couldn't take having those little reminders around her.

He stopped in front of the door for a minute before hesitantly tapping in her codes and useless security passes. She told all the team the codes; they were all 'D4mn C4t 43t 1t'. Rebel said it was because if she died then they could randsack her room, but Ripcord couldn't have her bike. She always took her own death so lightly, as if the thought of her being mortal was a joke.

He opened the door and looked into the dark room before flipping the light switch on. He had only been in here once, but she had changed a lot. She had put a make-shift fence around her beloved motorcycle, put her video games and consoles higher, and she had a door on her kitchen?

Snake Eyes started to walk back to her bedroom when the left wall of the hallway caught his eye. There was a collage of photos taped on it. He looked at it and realized these were all A.J's photos.

There were ones of when she was little with long, curly hair and freckles that sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. Some had a rather tall Japanese man in them with her, his long hair in a top-knot and a Fu Manchu beard on his face. One photo that made it clear he was he father was one where he held a katana half out of its sheath as it lay in his hands; his mouth was open as if talking as young A.J looked at it with fascination in her lime eyes. The one next to it had a woman who looked exactly like A.J, but with lighter skin as she was in a fierce kicking stance. You could see she had A.J's Ouroboros marking her stomach due to her shirt flying up a little. Little A.J mimicked this woman's actions as perfectly as a five year old could.

The photos skipped approximately fifteen years as suddenly Lady T was in the next group. He chuckled at one that had Lady T pulling A.J by her shirt collar out of a car as she clung on for dear life 'I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go!' was scribbled across it with black ink. He noticed that in all of these and over she was wearing her long gloves. The next one was in black and white, A.J had obviously posed for this one but It was beautiful all the same. She was hanging out of the back seat window of a cab wearing a cut off tank top and a sideways newsboy hat while holding her sunglasses gave her a bad ass look. It was taken facing the front of the taxi and she hung out so she was balancing on her hip.

Many, many more filled a large half of the wall before he stumble across a picture at made his heart sink lower than it already was. A freckle faced man had his face frozen in a huge laugh as A.J pressed her lips into his cheek knocking his hat off his head as his arms wrapped across her back and hers wrapped around his neck. His dark brown eyes stood out as they had smudges of blue in them as well as his unique reddish brown hair. Snake Eyes turned his head farther down the row to see her kneeled with a group of African children that were dressed tribal, in the back ground a bush plane was set with 'Raider's Luck' written on the nose. There were many more of these, but featured with different people and different ages.

He looked the rest of them over, many of them he was caught in or was featured in. He soon came to the last one as it sat crooked on the wall with A.J standing next to the Red-Left.

Snake fixed it before he gently turned the door knob to her bedroom and the door open itself before he reached a hand over the wall and hit the switch. Once he did, the stereo turned on and began to play 'I got a feeling by the Black Eyed Peas'. He smiled under his mask and shook his head. Her bed could have passed for a big, purple cloud as he approached it to set her helmet down.

The comforter swallowed it as he gave a humored sigh. He looked around the room which had A.J's presence marked all over it. He gave another sigh, but this time one of frustration.

'_She was just so convinced she would be here forever. And so was I…'_ He thought as he fingered her pendants. The lively song that was playing before and a sad tune started as sorrowful words following. He sat down on her floor as the song seemed to pull him down. Snake Eyes couldn't take it anymore; he stood and turned off the stereo. He hung his head and was looking directly at a pile of pictures that were set neatly in front of the stereo.

The first and biggest one featured A.J holding a little girl of about four in her arms as they both faced the camera. She had A.J's hair color and freckles of when she was younger; the only difference was the little girl had two different colored eyes; the right was brown with blue smudges and left was lime green. Her bangs had a reddish brown patch that went from the corner of her left eye all the way over to her ear.

The next picture was of the little girl hugging a canine that appeared to be a wolf as it sniffed her hair. At the bottom was written _'My little __Artemis the wolf girl' _in beautiful cursive.

''_My little Artemis'? Is this girl…A.J's daughter?'_ Snake Eyes thought in shock. If she wasn't she must be related to her very closely. Now that he thought about it, she also bore a resemblance to that man in the other photo.

'_She can't be A.J's child, that would mean she would have to have been out of the…..but she was discharged for five years!' _He shook his head and picked up the clearest photo of the girl. He found a clear one of A.J and this man then compared the photos. She had A.J's dusty blonde curls when she was that age and her lime green eye. She had the man's eye and same hair colored patch as well as his tendency to raise his left eye brown when smiling.

Snake Eyes finally faced the facts and leaned against the other wall so he stare at the man's taunting grin. Even if A.J was alive he couldn't have her, she was somebody else's; she had his child even. But why wasn't he in any of the other photos? And Snake Eyes didn't catch sight of a wedding ring. He clenched his fists at the thought that this man got A.J pregnant and left her.

But, there wasn't anything he could do now. She was gone, and Cobra had orphaned a little girl. This gave Snake Eyes all the more reason to fight after such a personal strike from Cobra.

'_What am I thinking? Yes it is a personal strike on some degree, it's a personal strike against everybody. Face it man.' _He thought as he slumped against the wall and closed his eyes to clear his head. He lost count of time, but he heard footsteps rush down the hall and turn into Rebel's room as he jumped up ready for action. It was Tap; she had a huge smile on her face that grew wider at the sight of Snake Eyes. Within seconds he found himself in the tightest hug in his life—that was also one of the few hugs he ever had—as she ran in place. She pulled back and began hopping; uttering excited Hawaiian gibberish before dragging him out the door by his hand.

…..

Tap pulled Snake Eyes into the infirmary where the Alpha team and others stood around a hospital bed. Lady T looked over at the sound of the door opening, and within a second was dragging Snake Eyes by his other hand towards the bed as Tap rushed back out the door. He peered over in curiosity and his heart stopped.

There in the bed lay unconscious Rebel. She had multiple bandages and medical tape polka doted her skin. Under her head was wrapped as well as her ribs. Her right leg was above the sheet, wrapped tight in a cast from the top of her thigh to her toes. She didn't have an oxygen supplier, but there was a IV and it was dripping fast.

Snake Eyes found himself next to Ripcord as he leaned of the bed in disbelief.

"I went back with the 'cleanup crew' to get the Cobra jets and all when I noticed this big orange thing. I went to check it out and Rebel here was under it. The orange was the wings of her free fall suit. I guess she took that way out instead. She was a long ways away from the crash though." Ripcord informed him.

"She has a concussion, multiple lacerations from God knows what, shattered ribs, and she managed to snap her tibia clean in half." Lady T said as she gently moved Rebel's hands onto her lap. "The doctor gave her some super strong pain killers, and he said when she wakes up she's going to be totally high." She added. Everybody could see that Lady T was more than ecstatic to have her best friend back since she kept 'making her comfortable' and brushing her bangs out of her face.

Soon, Nightshade and Storm Shadow had been drug into the room by Tap as well. Around the same time Rebel started waking up. Her eyebrows would raise as if trying to pry open her eyes and her head would loll from side to side.

They opened as she looked at the faces with unfocused eyes. They focused slightly just as her eyes got to Storm Shadow. She squinted and moved her head to the left and blinked a few times.

"Hey, I didn't know that angels were Asian." She spoke in a confused tone. Everybody exchanged glances and held in shudders of laughter. She looked to the other side at Duke and gave the same look.

"You look like somebody I knew on Earth." She pointed at him and gave a drunken smile. Rebel looked to the next face, which was Lady T. "And you too. Ha, cool." She laughed and looked at Snake Eyes. "Hey, they even make Snake Eyes angels!" She kept smiling and flopped her arm down beside her. "Man, being dead is cool." She laughed before it wiped off her face and she did a double take at everybody. "Wait, are we all dead?" Everybody burst into laughter in sync at the remark.

"Man, you are high off your ass!" Lady T choked. Rebel looked around confused—well, more confused—at everybody. She looked at Snake Eyes with her brow furrowed in innocent questioning as the laughter lowered down into people catching their breath.

"I don't get it." She said and the laughter started again as Ripcord fell on the floor. "Angels have a very odd since of humor." Rebel stated as she tried to sort out her fogged thoughts. After a while a few people left, some stepped forward to say their personal welcome backs before leaving, some were taken away by work and it dwindled down to Snake Eyes and Lady T left.

Lady T was assumed asleep in one of the chairs to the left of Rebel as Snake Eyes sat in the opposite one, resting his arms and head on her bed like a loyal dog. Rebel had fallen back to sleep after the first hour, she was cleared from her concussion being serious and was allowed rest.

He had a million things to ask her; was Artemis her daughter? Was she married already? If so, who is he? Is he still around to raise her daughter? If he wasn't, would she consider him to help raise her daughter?

"You've got it bad." Lady T's voice broke his thoughts. He looked over at her to see she was still in her sleeping form. He tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"For my sister, that is." She spoke again. He lips moved but her eyes stayed shut and her face calm. "I can tell." She stretched and turned to face him with a 'Momma knows everything' smirk. Snake Eyes looked at A.J's peaceful face; the way her bangs brushed to the left, her light freckle traces over her cheeks, the way the corners of her mouth defied gravity as they always seemed to be in a smile.

"I've seen that look before….give or take I can't see you face." Lady T shrugged.

"_But, isn't she married?"_ Snake Eyes signed. He was glad to get answers from someone who knew A.J closely, but directly from her would have been better.

"No, James was going to propose to her after the mission was completed. They were to listen in on a conversation between two smugglers at this high class party. Well, a terrorist had the idea to blow up the place and kill the smugglers since they wouldn't sell him anymore weapons. And it was practically on top of A.J's fail-safe bomb that would collapse the exit so they couldn't escape—she's over-kill like that—and when it detonated James happened to be standing next to the same wall. It killed him. She blamed herself and wouldn't listen to the facts. Her injuries were enough that they sent her home; but she doesn't have a home. The closest thing to a 'real family' she has is this place." She lifted her hands in gesture of signifying the Joes. "And my family of course." She added.

"_But what about that little girl? Artemis?"_ He signed as Lady T's face fell. She turned her eyes to the ground with no emotion.

"So you found out, huh?" She asked and laughed slightly in disbelief. "A.J found out she was pregnant a few months after James' death. I was on R&R at my parents' house in Illinois' when she called. I never told anybody, ever. After Artemis was born she kept her with her in college when she went back. Two years later she came up and asked 'I know this is a huge, huge favor. But can you keep Artemis? I don't know how long I'll be gone, but can you?'"

She looked back up at Snake Eyes who listened intently to the story. "So I did, until I had to come back. I left Arty with Momma, but she'll take good care of her. About two more years, so that's four; A.J came back and explained her situation. We understood perfectly. A.J spent some time with Arty and took a lot of pictures with her before she had to leave again. Arty was so upset, but A.J promised to write a letter to her every chance she got. Of course, it's been a year since the letters stopped." She finally ended. Snake Eyes wasn't sure how to feel or react. He felt bad that someone like A.J had been through something like that; but he only knew half her life from the story.

"_How long have you known A.J?"_ He signed.

"Long enough. She's told all about the hell she been through, you'd think after something like that she would made of stone. But here she is, sweet and trusting as a puppy." Lady T said as she leaned forward and moved her bangs once more before her hands picked up Rebel's wrist and pulled her long glove off. She turned her hand so that he palm was facing Snake Eyes, as well as her scars. About sixteen scars were slashed in various directions, each crossing and lapping over. Some led over onto the palm of her hand and others traced farther down than others.

"When I saw them, I thought she was a cutter. I made her explain, so she did. This fucked up cult called 'The Brotherhood of Sisters' did it. If you lived past these wounds, you were 'strong enough to stand with them'. They did this when she was ten, she got out of there with she was about sixteen, and they've left her alone. Nightshade was in there as well, but A.J couldn't pull her out." She told him before gently setting her arm back down. "There's more on the other arm." She added. Snake Eyes had seen similar things, but those were 'disciplinary'. This seemed like all out bloodlust.

"This is between us though. You never heard it from me, in fact; you never heard it. You want to know, ask A.J, it's her life." Lady T said before she curled her legs up to her body and went back to her sleeping position. Snake Eyes waited a while before her reached his hand out and moved her bangs towards the left.

"Don't think I didn't see that." He playfully froze in place as Lady T snickered.

…..

_**Hoop, there it is. Hey, that makes me wanna sing now. Anyways, how did you like it? Did you hate it? Want me to re-write it? Did you invent a metal spork just so you could stab the screen with it? Do you want me to crawl in a hole, change my name to Linda, marry an elf and never see the light of day again because if I do you'll shoot my head off with a Spartan lazar? Tell me please, because I really don't want to change my name to Linda and marry an elf. **_


	10. Chapter 10

_**So I couldn't stand leaving you guys without a story before I have to send my busted computer back. If you don't know, then that will be 4-8 weeks for the new computer to arrive. 4-8 weeks is a long time, epically waiting for a story update! That and if I don't then you'd be stuck with a rather boring chapter to remember me by…booo**_

….

"Commander, the bait jets have been taken into the base as we had planned. Zartan has arranged a ball to take place tomorrow and all the Joes are expected to arrive for 'the president's thanks'. When the base is empty will launch the system attack; no one will ever suspect it until it is too late." Destro informed the back of a turned chair.

"Good. I have them in my grasp, but they can't even tell." He said as if his victory had already arrived. "Zartan has surprised me this time."

"….

"Here's Johnny!" Lady T said as she opened the Rec. Room door for Rebel as she walked on her hands into the room.

"Hey, there's our favorite weirdo." Duke said teasingly as the woman lowered her feet over her head and snapped upwards standing straight as if she had walked in there on her feet.

"Backflips, no matter what form, never get old." Rebel said as she sat down on the floor so she could stretch her legs out in front of her. It wasn't extremely noticeable; but a thin, tightly stitched line ran down her shin.

"So, how'd you recover _that_ fast exactly?" Heavy Duty spoke up in curiosity.

"Well, they told me something about how they 'proved Cobra activity is getting closer' that they wouldn't be able to let me heal on my own. So they took two metal splits, stuck 'em right next to the two broken bones and put five screws in to hold them to the bone. That and the break was shattered so they put this weird hard, glue junk to fill the gap." She answered as she moved her hands in radical motions to help with the story. Rebel looked up with satisfaction at their faces of mixed emotions. "True story bros."

"Wow. That's….strange." Breaker looked up from his work for a second.

"Modern tactics of rapid, artificial healing." Tap commented from her corner. Once again silence came over the room, excluding the flipping of pages and typing of keys.

"Speaking modern; there's a ball tomorrow, Rebel." Lady T said over her cross-word puzzle that was nearly finished. Rebel twisted her face into one of disbelief as she stared at the woman who was ignoring her.

"Somebody must really hate dresses." Duke whispered to Ripcord after a few awkward seconds.

"What the hell Layleen? Would it have killed you to tell me sooner?" Rebel said as Lady T shrugged her shoulders before circling another word on the page. Rebel gave her a disapproving face.

"So can I use one of yours?" Lady T asked casually still not looking up from her occupation.

"I guess. This isn't a 'formal-richan-smitchen' deal is it?" Rebel questioned as she looked off into space with thought.

"I don't know." Lady T said as Rebel seemed unsatisfied with the answer.

"Well come on, I'm trying to avoid traffic." Rebel said all of a sudden standing up as Lady T reluctantly put down her tattered game boom just as she was on the last page.

"But Mom!" She started in a serious tone.

"Butts are for sitting!" Rebel said back before both the women struggled to keep straight faces. "Remember when Momma used to say that like, all the time?" Her voice faded behind the closing door leaving most of the remaining people in the dust of their inside jokes.

They walked down the hall immersed in their conversation until a certain white clad man walked into view. Rebel threw up a hold finger to Lady T before stopping Storm Shadow by the shoulder. He looked as her hand then at her face as if she had just slapped him; she of course ignored his reaction.

"Hey, Nightshade was looking for you. She said something about asking you something. Anyways, I was high as a kite so I don't know. Just thought I'd let you know." She shrugged before starting her conversation with Lady T back and leaving looking like he just got hit by a truck.

"But like I was saying; you can't wear the JMJ unless you have a date." Rebel said setting up her only qualification for the dress.

"I do have a date." Lady T said holding her head a little higher. Rebel crept into a proud-mother smile.

"Bet cha I can guess who it is." She said teasingly.

"Oh can you n-" Lady T started.

"It's Heavy Duty."

"Damn. How'd you know?" Lady T asked. She didn't like Heavy Duty, frankly thought his name was stupid but she wouldn't show up dateless either.

"Pfft. I'm mother frackin' Cupid, this be my specialty." Rebel said as she moved her head left to right like a 90's rapper before she started the walk where they move their arms far more than needed.

"How could I forget?" Lady T rolled her eyes. In college, as every other woman would bathe in perfume, wear the shirts too tight and too low, paint their faces with makeup and other such things to get their guy interest to even look at them; all 'A.J the Bay-Jay'—whatever the hell that meant—had to do was just show up. She dated some, broke other's hearts or matched them with somebody else. Her ability to manipulate the opposite sex is what made her great at being her third skill; seductress. She could trick and trap the most notorious man in five minutes after the S.W.A.T team failed for months.

She just had an odd way with men; they would 'hang-out' with her with one intention but a few days later they would be her big brother.

"That and he told me." Rebel said once she straightened up.

"What? Why?" Lady T furrowed her brow as she nearly smacked Rebel with one of her hands.

"Don't slay the messenger. He just wanted to know if the only reason you forced him to go with you is that you wanted to kill him under the buffet table with a celery knife." Rebel said as she pretended to wipe spit off her cheek.

"Hmph." Lady T pursed her lips as she folded her arms. Rebel chuckled lightly as she typed in the numerous codes to her room.

"You taking anybody?" She asked Rebel as she opened the door to her room.

"Nope." She answered simply as she closed the door behind them and flipped the light switch on.

"And why not?" Lady T asked as her friend simply shrugged her shoulders and walked off to the kitchenette. Lady T sighed before she fell into Rebel's futon.

"Banana sammich?" Rebel called after a few things being moved around.

"Nah. But what was your deal with Frosty Freeze?" She said as Rebel came out with two sandwiches; thirty banana slices between whole wheat.

"I'm hooking Nightshade up with him." She said putting a hand up before Lady T could say anything. "Mistaken? No. I know what I'm doing." She finished before taking a bit out of her sandwich.

"And you think that will speed track at this ball deal?" Lady T raised an eye-brow.

"I can only hope…" Rebel sighed with a hopeless look. "But anyways, go get that dress on. I don't know if your fat ass will fit that anymore." She joked as Lady T rolled her eyes.

….

_**Next Day**_

….

"How in the? I mean- Wait it goes this- nope." Ripcord mumbled to himself as he tried to figure out his tie. Tap rolled her eyes and stood to help the man so that she might be able to finish reading the latest status report.

"Move your hands." She said she grabbed the two pieces of fabric. "Why isn't Scarlett helping you?" She huffed out of irritation.

"I don't know." He defended himself as Tap yanked it up to his neck a little less than gently before turning and leaving him pulling it down. Tap wasn't one for dresses anymore—or being social anymore for that matter—so she had a neat, pin-stripe women's suit on. It had its own tie as well.

"Hey, why does your formal have a tie and not mine?" Duke said looking down at his uniform.

"You should feel lucky." He answered still fidgeting with his tie. That when another man entered the room in his formal wear. Duke and Ripcord didn't recognize him as Tap ignored his entrance. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, but the diagonal scar that traced from the far right above his eye-brow across his face and ended on his left cheek.

"Hey, who's that guy?" Duke whispered to Ripcord as he nudged him in the ribs.

"That's Snake Eyes you dips." Tap snapped. The two looked at each other before looking at the man who was claimed to be Snake Eyes. He gave them a tired look; obviously no one liked this surprise going out. Once more, the door opened to Lady T. The satin red dress touched about her knees with a zip up neck, no sleeves, as the black sides on her thighs and her hips led up to crisscross at her middle and again on the flat of her chest. Three gold chains and three silver chains of six different sizes adorned her covered neck as twice as many silver bracelets decorated her wrists. She turned to Tap and held up a silver strand ear ring and an identical one but in gold.

"Which one?" She asked.

"I don't care." Tap replied ignoring her.

"Who put extra bitch in your coffee today?" Lady T remarked as Tap shot her a narrowed glance. "Eat a damn Snickers." Lady T left her and sat on the coach and crossed her legs as she put in her silver pair. When she was done she looked up at Snake Eyes. She squinted, and then looked surprised before turning her attention somewhere else.

'_Blonde, blue eyes, scar, square jaw. What the hell? I thought he would be like, Japanese. They are from Japan right? Not China. But Bruce Lee was Chinese. Or was he?' _She tried to distract herself with a blur of random thoughts. She didn't notice when Scarlett walked in.

"So where's Rebel?" Scarlett's voice broke her thoughts. She looked up dumbfounded for a second before snapping out of her reverie.

"Oh, she's driving Sargent Flood. The woman is too paranoid to have anyone but A.J to chauffeur her around." She said standing, the others following her movement as they walked out the door with their nerves on edge. The sudden invite and close set date was very strange, even by government standards.

….

"I hate heels." Scarlett growled as she pulled the annoying strap farther up her ankle. The crowd filled the huge, empty space of the room with quite murmurs as they waited for something more to happen. After arrival, everything else was a mystery and seemingly unplanned.

"Why does this feel like the first day of high school?" Lady T said quietly as she pretended to scratch her neck as she turned her head more towards the small huddle of the Alpha team. Out of sheer awkward air in the room, people gathered with the people they knew; but slowly they were starting to spread out.

"Because it smells funny?" Ripcord half-heartedly joked as the huddle slightly groaned. "Shouldn't Reb be here already?"

"I made it!" Came her voice as if on cue from behind them. She came moving as fast as she could in four inch heels as they turned to see her. Snake Eyes felt his anger rise slightly when Duke let out a teasing wolf whistle. But she was beautiful tonight. "Sorry, Flood was being a pain on where to park her 'precious baby'.

"Girl, isn't that the dress you got shot in?" Lady T asked before she even made it to them.

"Almost shot, it was flesh wound the ribs." She said. The silky orange fabric fell above her ankles as the neck line showed just enough collar bone. Gold straps went over her shoulders and crossed over her shoulder blades. It had no back to as it showed part of her Uroborus tattoo and her third one on her right shoulder blade that read: _Dream _like you'll live forever, _Live _like you'll die Tomorrow. She let the long of her hair out of its braid, but pulled it over her left shoulder. She wore fingerless, long white silk gloves as well.

"So why'd you 'almost' get shot?" Breaker asked.

"Untrained deputies and hand guns don't mix." Rebel said shaking her head. By accident, her eyes met Snake's as she was looking around at the number of people; she quickly moved her eyes along as if she didn't notice and instead looked at set of doors that were being opened by waiters. THey appeared to lead outside to a balcony.

"All these people are from the base?" She asked after she actually realized how many swarms of people were buzzing around them.

"Yep." Lady T said.

"I thought we were 'the elite' not the 'everybody in the army' club." She said as they laughed quietly. Meanwhile tuxedoed waiters set food out on the tables that lined on of the walls.

"Oh hey, they set the food out." Lady T said forcing her arm around Heavy Duty's before literally pulling him along with her. He gave Rebel a wide-eyed look as he was drug away with the others following.

"Bring me a plate!" Rebel called after Lady T before seeing the red of her dress disappear into the crowd. She noticed Snake Eyes was still beside her out of her peripheral vision; intimidating situation to most. But the only thing intimidating her was the silence.

"So you come here often?" She started off randomly as she turned to face him. The first thing that caught her attention was his eyes, the fact on how icy blue they were. It was almost unnatural.

He looked a little surprised at first; surprised that she was talking to him before nodded to the joke. She smiled and laughed at the look on his face; she liked being able to his expressions clearly.

'_How is she not taken?' _Was the only thought that came to his mind, that is before another thought intruded. Her daughter came to mind; he wanted to be with Rebel no matter what or who. But what if she didn't want the same?

"_You look nice." _He signed to her once he pushed the thought out of his mind.

"Thanks, you too." She said. Since the food was set out, the crowd had spread out more as the two found themselves practically being pushed towards the walls by the bustle. Rebel would have jumped right in and made friends with every person there, but she stayed with Snake Eyes who seemed irritated by it.

"Hey." Rebel lightly tapped him on his arm. "Want to head outside?" She pointed a thumb towards the open doors. Surprisingly, very few people were there. It looked tempting, but the crowd that made a barrier between freedom and them deterred him. He felt strange and awkward without the mask, so he shook his head to her.

Her face formed a confident smirk as she freakishly fast linked her arm with Snake's and began moving through the crowd with ease.

"Hey there, hi there. Wassup buddy? Hey good to see ya! Never met you. Hi bro, mind moving? Lookin' good, Joey. Billy. Whoever you are." She said as people moved out of her and Snake's way. She learned just to say random greetings when you need to get through a crowd fast; they hear you, they know you're there, they will move. Thanks the Rebel's 'people skills' they were on the balcony within minutes. She smiled and spread out her free arm.

"See isn't this better?" She said before releasing Snake's arm and walking over to the rail, him following beside her; waiting and wanting her next daring move. She rested her arms over the side and looked out over the lights of Washington, D.C. "Did Layleen tell you about when we visited D.C when you were talking? I might have zoned out." Snake's heart nearly stopped. She sounded sincere about it, but that didn't stop his five second mental break down.

'_Oh…shit..' _ He thought before shook his head, just going along.

"Too bad, it was awesome." She bobbed her head when she said 'awesome' as if trying to express her experiences. Snake Eyes let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"_So you weren't really asleep when she was telling me about you?" _He signed. Rebel shook her head with a slight smile on her lips.

"Heard every word." She smiled. "Oh, and since I saw you went through my picture stack of Artemis." She said slipping her fingers down her opposite hand's glove and pulling out a small, slightly tattered photo. "Here's updated one of her." She handed it to him. It wasn't much different, except her hair was really light blonde now and she was tan. In the picture she was holding a soccer ball and kneeling in the usual stance.

"_She plays soccer?" _ Snake Eyes signed after he handed the photo back.

"She wants to, but then again she is four. For her fifth birthday she wants me to bring her a daddy when I come home. She couldn't ask for a puppy, could she?" She said tucking the photo back in the tiny pocket with a sigh. Snake Eyes smiled slightly at the reply that came to his mind.

"_I think I might know someone who is up for the job."_ He signed. She gave a lopsided smile.

"Oh really?" She said leaning on the railing with a sassy look on her face.

"_I said he might. I don't know, why don't you ask him out sometime?" _ This is what he liked about Rebel the most. No matter where they were at, Rebel always made him feel like he didn't need to be perfect or serious. She brought freedom and blocked out the world. Constant joking, not afraid to mess up, proud of who she is and where she comes from. Truth be told, Snake Eyes could recall telling may jokes before she came.

"Hmmm. I'm kind of booked, so could you give him this?" She just finished her sentence when she put a kiss on his lips. It was longer than a peck, but still short. He stood there shocked as Rebel laughed slightly. Half of him came back around as he couldn't help but smile.

"_I think he'd like that."_ Snake signed back.

"He should, after forcing my sister-from-another-mister to spill my life story and going through my photos; I figure this guy is in deep." She smirked.

….

_Well derp. That showed my hopeless romantic side just a tad. FOREVER ALONE. Anyway, packing _ _ laptop up soon(like, a week or soon. I have a bunch of papers to type out…) so yeah. I might, MIGHT, be able to post another chapter. _

\


	11. Chapter 11

_**Well, managed to squeeze in fun writing time! Yay! Might be the final update for a while(even if its more of a teaser…)…depends on when I finish my papers. Because when my papers are finished, I will be sending my laptop back to the company.(If you don't know, I broke my laptop screen and it's rather hard to use.)**_

…

"Yes, all the Joes are here. I don't see why we just can't attack them here." The hologram complained to Destro.

"Don't. This may take longer, it is guaranteed to work. Give me five more hours." He said as Zartan—posing as the president—rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Five? I'll have to see what I can do." Zartan said before shutting his side down, causing his image to disappear. Destro turned his chair to face a large spread of control panels and monitors with various displays. Tapping a few keys, flipping a switch or so and he had several green lights blinking on one monitor. On one end as he manipulated a joy-stick and pressed buttons, a new technology was invading the Joe's base.

Molding out of the two jet's twisted metal of various places, spider like robots crawled across the ground in rapid waves. About two hundred from each jet, adding to a staggering amount of four hundred mini-attackers, there would have been more but the fires and damage killed a large majority. The waves spread out as small groups peeled off and scaled the walls, targeting the cameras and sensors that had been set up after the area was dubbed off-limits. Each tiny bot was a super computer, so they easily freeze framed the area for anyone viewing it on a computer.

Once the entire place was free for the mice to play, they broke into more groups and parted down the halls. Some reached the main controls, others attacked the weapons board, they blocked all incoming information, downloaded viruses, stole data, switched files and wrecked complete havoc on their technology.

Once the main targets were crossed off, they went for the jets and carrier crafts. Corrupting their completely digital systems and readers, mixing maps; infecting beyond hopes of repair. Another target taken down; personal technology was hacked, phone receivers scrambled past comprehension, holograms manipulated. If it could, it would and was.

Once complete, they returned to their Trojan horse after un-freezing the camera and sensors. All would look normal to the Joes when they returned, nothing would ever be suspected. That is, until the time was right. Whatever time Cobra wished, they could completely crash the Joes. After many died, all went to hell and they were trapped in the underground base called the Pit; the hundreds of little bot were set to blow a hole the size of Wyoming in the Egyptian desert and Africa as the death blow. Fool proof, Joe proof, fail proof. Speaking of fail; the fail-safe was the same as the final blow. There would be no avoiding their doom this time.

….

"I am not a man to be trifled with." Cobra Commander growled in aggravation at the shadowed woman.

"As I am a woman not to be cheated. I know your scheme; I have seen what happens to the people that join your little...whatever this play club is." The rather attractive woman said in disgust. Cobra made a move to stand and threaten her in some way as a blade slipped under his throat. He moved his eyes under his mask to see a shadowed figure; oh how he hated not being able to see his enemy's face. Cobra sent him an unseen glare before sitting back down and the blade pulled out of the light, back into the shadows.

"So, as I was saying; I planned this attack, given you the blue prints to our attack-bots, and even more man power. And all this for just one request." The woman pulled out and nail file and began rubbing it against her nails. She flipped her blonde hair slightly so kept her eyes from his viewing.

"And just what would that be?" The Commander was growing tired of her, quickly.

"Make sure a friend of mine dies. As in, completely. Never to live not even in the after life." She Smirked.


	12. Chapter 12

_**I…I am…UPDATING. Wow, that's something I haven't done for a while. I'm using my desk top for this chapter, I just hope old Desky can hang in there for a few more chapters! Probably not…Oh technology, why do thou hate thy?**_

….

_Two weeks later_

In the two weeks after Snake Eyes and Rebel had officially started dating, it seemed that these two misfits had been high school lovers. Complete opposites yet inseparable, just like puzzle pieces glued together.

"As my mother once said, 'God be with the man that thinks he can tame that woman.'" Lady T shook her head as Rebel had picked a few tough looking SEALs to spar with one day. She came away with a bruise, a few new friends and a smile on her face. "Because everything she punches loves her…."

Scarlett had found Tap's reason for acting so anti-social and cold; she was taking everyone's shifts! Getting fifteen hours of sleep a week at the most; Hawk granted her leave for a few days and she went back to herself finally.

As things in the Joe base seemed to get only brighter, they didn't know that nightfall was coming on swift wings.

….

"Nik-Nik-Nik-Nikkiam!" Rebel sang as she waved her arms over her head at their lunch table. Scarlett, Lady T, Ripcord, and Heavy Duty were all working on this 'super-tracking-missile-bullet-bomb' together. So Duke failed at beating Rebel at cards as Snake Eyes silently rooted for his girlfriend.

"Waz up mah trigga-finga?" Tap said in a Brooklyn accent as she set her plate on the table and sat down.

"What movie is that off of?" Rebel asked putting a card down to which Duke smirked confidently.

"Death Slam 2." Tap answered her brows furrowing slightly.

"Let's leave it that way." Rebel said giving Duke the royal flush. Tap laughed to herself before starting to eat her salad. "You'll never beat me at this, you know that right?" Rebel said looking at Duke as she shuffled the cards.

"I figured that out after you took my biscuit." He sighed looking at his empty plate, all his food had been lost to the green eyed woman across from him.

"Well here's your chicken fingers back." Rebel said sliding the plate to him. "Wow, I suddenly feel like I'm in middle school. Gambling with lunch items. That and the military is making us eat chicken fingers." She rolled her eyes at herself as Snake Eyes patted her shoulder with sarcastic sympathy.

'_Beep!Beep!Beep! .Dom.'_

"What's that?" Duke asked as Tap pulled a communicator out. She had a text message from…The Witch Doctor.

"Cats in hell…" Tap breathed as Rebel leaned over the table. She stopped Tap from opening the message.

"Get Hawk first." She told her.

…..

"How is he contacting you?" Hawk demanded from them.

"Sir, the message hasn't even been opened. After we read it, we'll have Breaker track it." Tap said, repeating her first ten sentences of the conversation. He thought awhile before giving her the okay nod.

'_Awake you mongoose! There is a Cobra in your den! He cannot see him, but he is there! He is everywhere! You cannot fight him, run instead! Live to fight him in the light, follow my warning!'_

"Should we take it seriously, sir?" Duke asked feeling a slight shiver run down his spine.

"We should take it into consideration, but how do we know that this…'Witch Doctor' isn't just trying to flush us out?" Hawk answered him. It made sense, but if it wasn't an ally source then how could they get a personal communicator number?

Rebel wasn't focused on their conversation; she was searching her brain for something familiar. Mongoose, why did it seem so important to her? Somewhere in the farthest part of her conscious made that seem important.

"Keep your eyes out. Dismissed." Hawk's words broke her thoughts. She saluted him with the others and left, still bother-minded. Snake Eyes noticed her silence and tapped her on her shoulder.

"_Is something wrong?" _He signed to her.

"Other than the creepy warning; yes. Mongoose, it seems familiar on a scale. Like, a nickname scale or something." She said biting her finger as she worked through trying to figure it out.

"_I'm sure you'll get it, Reb." _He signed. Something clicked in her head.

"That's it! 'Mongoose', that's what Dad used to call me! His little mongoose!" Rebel smiled and snapped her fingers.

"_Why is that?"_ Snake signed and titled his head to show his interest.

"I don't know really." She shrugged. "He had a garden, and sometimes I'd find snakes there so I'd catch them. Pretty much it."

"_You don't think this has anything to do with your father do you?" _He signed as she looked down.

"I hope not, Snake." Rebel sighed. "I really hope not."

…

"Sir, look at this." Tap pointed to her screen. Hawk tried to figure it out, but gave up.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Someone messed with our system. Files have been duplicated as far as I can tell." She said.

"Is it a threat?" Hawk asked.

"No sir, not at the moment. But I haven't noticed this until now. I haven't done this, and neither has anyone else here. I've asked without giving too much away on the matter, but no one has an explanation. It means that some outside source did it." Tap informed him with a worried face.

"Keep this between us, don't cause mass-hysteria. Update me on anything and everything else you find." Hawk said before leaving her to her work.

…

_**Only one thing to say here, will they catch Cobra's plan in time? Is the Witch Doctor a good guy, or a trickster? Or possibly something more?**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**What is this? An update so soon? Yep. Old Desky hasn't let me down so far, I'm just going to type up as much as I can. Did I mention how small this keyboard is? Its ridiculously small!**_

…..

"No. I won't do it." The man protested before the furious woman swiped her hand across his face. He didn't respond at all, he sat there calmly like a dog who had been put back in his cage; there was no use fighting, he wouldn't be able to escape the bars.

"Listen here, Markio." She spat, her angelic face crinkled in anger. "You will do as I say, or your daughter will die." The blonde woman hissed.

"She will die anyway! Cobra is going to blow the base up! Remember, you are the she-devil who helped him!" The dark skinned man shouted. The woman cocked her hand to back-hand him, but he did not cringe. She let out a disgusted sigh and combed her hair over with her fingers.

"If you do as I say, she will be spared. But only if it is followed through." Said in stubborn defeat.

"Thank you, Miss. Eris. Thank you." Markio praised her before he left to attend to his task. Eris walked calmly to her desk and sat down in her throne of a chair. She smirked and propped her high heels up, putting her hands behind her head.

"One born every minute." She triumphantly said. Something on her desk beeped and she pressed the answer button with her slender shoe heel.

"Yes, what is it?" Eris said closing her eyes to relax.

"The Commander wishes to know when the attack will be launched." The familiar Scottish accent of Destro spoke. Eris groaned and rubbed her eyes, this fool was starting to bother her.

"Give it at least a few more days, if you can wait that long." She said. The Joes had not yet found their plans and the viruses had expanded through the entire system by now.

"We'll make sure your favor goes through, Miss. Eris." Destro said before hanging up on his end. Eris had not allowed any 'hologram-calls' since they had planted their attack, which gave Cobra a reason to become suspicious. She wanted to keep him on his toes, to suspect everything; to be paranoid beyond human comprehension. Then, it would just be a matter of time before The Brotherhood could take over Cobra.

…..

Rebel and Snake Eyes laid on her overly stuffed bed as they stared at the ceiling, which Rebel had mapped out all the constellations on with posters; he let her wear his visor after she asked a couple of times. She was in her usual wear of overly baggy sweat pants and a black tank top as Snake was in his work out dress.

"I feel so bad ass…." She said as Snake struggled not to laugh out loud as she took it off and laid it off to the side. He turned his head to the left so he could look at her; she did the same before tracing her finger over his jaw line. Rebel had taken her hiding gloves, exposing her scarred flesh. Snake gently took her wrist and turned in over, looking at the permanent damage _they_ had inflicted on her. He looked at her with sky blue eyes as her bright green seemed to never stop smiling, even when her past like hers.

"Don't worry about it." She said before kissing him on his forehead. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. She smiled at him as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. Rebel fought laughing as he passed over her ticklish side each time, he smiled back at her before slipping his hand under her shirt.

"Snake!" She laughed as he unlatched her bra. Rebel gave him a playful nip on the neck as he buried his lips in her shoulder.

….

"Arty? Artemis Sky Raiders you better answer me when I call you." The round black woman put her hands on her hips as she looked left and right between the wild child's favorite hiding places.

"Rawr!" Was the sound that nearly scared her out of her skin. She looked up with fright to see the little girl hanging by her feet from a rafter! The woman simply put her hand over her heart and shook her head.

"Child, you are gonna be just like your momma when you grows up." She said in her very thick Southern accent. The blonde child smiled brightly as her bicolored eyes sparked with happiness. She had gotten in to the make-up again as she used to eye-liner for war paint. Typical Artemis with her white tank top, blue baggy karate pants and her black head band. She cut her hair herself after a picture she found of her mother; even had her own messy, lose braid. She was taller, stronger, smarter and frankly more of a ten year old than a five year old.

"Ya really think so, Big Momma?" Artemis asked whole-honestly as she still hung upside down.

"Well sure! If you keep hanging upside down, you'll end with bats in your belfry as well." Big Momma laughed and walked back to the kitchen to check on dinner. Artemis sighed before dropping down, landing almost silently. She knew Big Momma was only joking, but it hurt and made her a little mad when people said that about her mother.

'_My mom is the best solider there ever was or ever will be.' _ She thought as she dashed up stairs to her room while Big Momma couldn't hear her. Artemis closed the door quietly and drew the blinds down before she opened the closet door and closing it behind her. Very quickly, she pulled a string that pulled a set of stairs down and leapt up them and pulled them up.

This was _her _space. The attic space over her room was where all her treasurers were as a small window let in a comforting light. Against the wall were make shift shelves and drawers she made herself; they were filled with rocks, bottles, arrow heads, feathers and bones. Next to the window was a very small dresser drawer she got from the trash pit through the woods, on it was a picture of her mother and her late father. They were standing side-by-side, but their arms were wrapped around each other, this was her most prized treasure.

In front of it was a sleeping bag and pillow, which Artemis was now laying on; staring at the picture. In the drawers were all sorts of things her mother had given her and sent to her.

"You are gone an awful lot, but I know it's for a good reason." She said as a misplaced tear started to fall. "I just wish you were here now…"

….

_**Tada! Gave you a little taste of Artemis there at the end. She's such a little trash picker, that girl… **_

_**Anyhow, next chapter shall be ACTION. So get ready.**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**I'M BACK.**_

….

'_She was so small….' _Rebel smiled down to the picture of her daughter when she was five months old. She sighed as she put the most recent one of Artemis in its place, a small part on the control set of the Red-Left.

"Three more years beautiful baby, three more years." Rebel gave a sad smile and went back to updating her jet's system. It was something to do, Red-Left had probably seen her last flight but she wasn't completely decommissioned yet. She also felt this strange urgency, like she couldn't relax. She hoped it was just her nerves; but something in her instincts told her otherwise.

"Hey Snake." Rebel said as she read the coding on her screen. She looked up to see the black clad man with his arms crossed.

"_Only you can do that. Why?" _ Snake Eyes signed.

She laughed and leaned back in her pilot's seat. "That's because you smell like an old sweaty horse right now." Rebel scrunched her face at him.

"_It happens." _He shrugged.

"Well take a bath of roll in some flowers. Do something about it." She waved him away.

He put his hands up in compromise and walked away; she made sure he was gone before she leaned back and closed her eyes. Rebel had been so tired and sick feeling for the last few days, nothing really explained it. She finished up her work and started towards Tap's room to tell her about the updates.

"Hey, Tap, I finished the updates." She knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. Nothing. "Tap? Nikki?" She knocked a few more times before opening the door. It smelled of blood.

"Nikki? Taps?" Her heart began to race, her panic began to rise; but calmed herself. It was never good to freak out in a situation as this one. She walked lightly over to the light switch, hesitant to flip it up. The light filled the dark room, her eyes warily scanned for…..something. And she found it…

"Nikki!" She cried as she rushed over to the limp figure. "Oh God Nikki, no!" She kneeled as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Rebel adverted her eyes away from the slice over her throat.

"Aww, Menhit. Did I kill your little friend?" A chilling voice came from behind her. She didn't bother to look at the attacker, she knew who it was.

"Eris…." She growled clenching her fists full of Tap's blood soaked clothing.

"Menhit." Eris replied casually. Rebel's anger grew just at the sound of the hideous name she was given.

"Why spill the blood of the innocent?" Rebel tried to remain civil since Eris loved it when people got emotional.

"To boil the blood of the guilty." Eris answered innocently. Rebel turned to look at her; she was rubbed her finger through Tap's blood that remained on her blade. "You are guilty, you know that right?" Rebel fought the training of the Brotherhood that was coming it back, it told her to take this woman's head off and put it on the front of her motorcycle.

"Let's see, I've killed your friend, then I'll kill the other one, and then that ninja-boy you love so much, and then um…..your precious daughter. After that's all done, I might get an adventurous bone and go after your father. And you'll live through all of it." Eris smiled a grin that would make her father Satan proud. Rebel stood up, keeping her back turned to Eris.

The milliseconds blurred as raw instinct took over. Rebel as on top of Eris as she pounded her fists in to her pretty face. Rebel reached for the sword and held it over Eris' heart.

"Let me tell you a secret. That Adrian boy, I killed him. I was with the 'terrorists' that day, I set it to blow. It was just a lucky shot that it was next to your fail-safe…and your boyfriend." Eris smiled exposing now bloodied teeth.

"Shut and die bitch!" Rebel shouted as a shuriken lodged into her shoulder. She dropped the blade, Eris rolled over so she was now on top.

"Swell work, Markio. I'm afraid Menhit killed your daughter though." Eris said as she grabbed Rebel by the collar of her shirt. "You know what?" She whispered in her ear. "I wasn't going to add this one the to the list, but that _really _pissed me off. So now, I'm going to cut out your unborn child." She growled.

Rebel's eyes snapped wide open. Her brain went to 'Indestructible' mode as she pulled the razor sharp shuriken out of her shoulder and slung it across Eris' face. Next thing she knew she was rushing down the hall. She had to get to someone; the Brotherhood had found their way here. And where filth was gathered, a snake hid.

"Rebel! What the-" Duke shouted as he was coming out of a door.

"No time. The Brotherhood it here, and probably Cobra. Get everybody on the alert, now!" She instructed before dashing off again. That blow Eris took wouldn't keep her down; even if she was decapitated she'd probably still come after you. She had to get Lady T and Snake Eyes. Somehow protect Artemis. And keep her unborn child safe as well….**unborn child**?!

Rebel nearly tripped while she was running. She stopped and lifted up her shirt, feeling her stomach. Only slightly, but it was definitely there.

"Woah." She breathed. _'It would have been better to find this out when I wasn't running for my life.'_

She started running again, and soon she reached her room.

"Fuck..no, no, no." She began panicking when she remembered Snake had gone to take a shower. She flung open the door to see Snake Eyes fighting with a woman. She seemed to have the upper hand, when she did just what her masters had drilled into her not to do; took her eyes off of her opponent and looked up at Rebel. Snake Eyes shoved her off and hit her with the butt of her katana, knocking her out. Rebel rushed over, holding the woman's head in her arms.

"Sleep well brother." She said before breaking her neck. "Snake, we've got to get out of here."

_**...to be continued…**_

_**YA I'M BACK! BUT I NEED SOME HELP, WHAT'S BETTER; A BOY OR A GIRL? **_


	15. Endings

**Well, there is no excuse for my absence other than school and major writer's block. I still haven't been able to pull through it. But, I had to give you something so….**

…

"Fuck..no, no, no." She began panicking when she remembered Snake had gone to take a shower. She flung open the door to see Snake Eyes fighting with a woman. She seemed to have the upper hand, when she did just what her masters had drilled into her not to do; took her eyes off of her opponent and looked up at Rebel. Snake Eyes shoved her off and hit her with the butt of her katana, knocking her out. Rebel rushed over, holding the woman's head in her arms.

"Sleep well brother." She said before breaking her neck. "Snake, we've got to get out of here."

"_What's going on?"_ He signed before she grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her.

"Are you blind as well? We're under attack!" She said before biting her lip. "Sorry, just…find a way to get the hangers or some other exit open." He nodded, turning to go the opposite direction before she called out to him. "Hey Snake," He stopped, looking over his shoulder. Rebel looked like she had a million different things to say. "I love you." was all she said. He signed back the same thing before leaving her.

An explosion rocked the base, allowing in more enemies of human and robot kind. Rebel rushed to help her fellow fighters; dragging the wounded to safety, tossing the armed ammunition, and the unarmed weapons. When she helped those she could, she picked up a gun as Nightshade rushed to her.

"Breaker found out these drones are controlled by the same director, me and Shadow are going to take him out; you and Lady T cover us." She panted before disappearing into the chaos. The only way Rebel could cover her was Storm Shadow was wearing his white uniform and sticking close to her. They were fighting against the current of attackers, but her and T's bullets thinned out the crowd enough for them to slip through.

"Shit! Where'd they go?" Rebel cursed as she looked through her scope, trying to spot the white against the red, grey and steel.

"Reb, behind you!" Lady T shouted. Rebel swung her gun around, the barrel smashing into an unidentifiable enemy. He looked neither Brotherhood nor Cobra. Not even a mix. Just a guy in black uniform. Either way, she lost an enemy seconds later. She heard a soft explosion somewhere over head, followed by another louder one across the chaos mass. Then another. And another. Louder. And Closer. She swallowed, putting her hand on her stomach.

"It's all gonna turn out alright…"

….

"Snake, it's gonna turn out alright." She smiled weakly, gripping his hand. Twenty year old Artemis stood next to her step-father and mother, holding the hand of her fifteen year old brother Atiryum. Rebel closed her eyes, her smile slowly getting smaller. Snake laid his head on the bed, still holding her hand.

The people behind them; Nightshade, Storm Shadow, Lady T, Scarlet, Duke, Breaker and several other Joes took off their uniform hats. They met later down stairs; some standing in silence, others trying to break it. After all the bullet dodging, plane crashing, and enemy making; they expected her to be taken by war and not unknown illness.

"Hey, Art." General Johnson greeted her. Artemis looked up at the older black woman.

"Hey, T." She said tiredly. Lady T sat down next to her on the couch.

"You know…You look just like your mother. Except for your eyes and hair. You need to ditch that strange brown," She said, making Artemis laugh a bit. "What I'm really trying to say is, would you finally like the chance to fill her shoes? To be a Joe?"

"…Yes."


End file.
